Addomesticando il succhia sangue
by Flourescent Grey
Summary: The story of Alice meeting Jasper in the 1950's. The title of my fanfic means Taming the bloodsucker... the question is, who's doing the taming? written PreEclipse so don't shoot me
1. Meetings

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or New Moon!!!** I wish I could write that well..

_**This fanfic takes place in 1948**_. If you need any "Twilight" references, I suggest you visit the Twilight Lexicon site. Just google it.

Finally, **PLEASE REVIEW!!!!**

---------------------------------------------

I sat at my fire, staring hard at the dancing flames. Why did they get to be so carefree? It wasn't very fair. Here I sat, not knowing anything more than my name, and they get to cheerily sit there warming… nothing. How stupid of me.

I doused the fire, ashamed at my habit, and sat down again, now staring at ashes. It had been 28 years now- of being 19 years old- and all I could retain from my human life was my name and stupid habits?

"My name was Mary Alice Brandon- I'm Alice now." I proclaimed to the silence. It rang hollowly, though I hadn't said it any louder than a human whisper. As it echoed back, I felt more alone than I had in a long time. I mean, I had never thought about it before, but roaming around in the wilderness and working night shifts at factories didn't exactly get you many friends. Friends that lasted, at least. They all had become old, so fast.

Caught up in introspection, I hadn't noticed the light footfalls growing ever nearer until they were blaringly obvious. I sat up, slightly relaxed, and tried to See who was coming. – _Myself, sitting up in a tree with a tall, blond haired boy – _I jumped out of my trance. There wasn't enough time to dawdle… all I had needed to know was whether or not this stranger was a threat. I stood up and turned around right when the stranger glided smoothly into the clearing.

He seemed startled to find me staring up at him from my vantage point five feet away. He was tall, about 6'3", and had honey blond hair. He was wearing a dark red flannel shirt that was pulled up past his elbows, showing his chiseled forearms. They were lean, though. Not body-builder quality, though. Just as I had Seen.

"So you're the one I heard talking?" He inquired in a light tenor. His eyes were a very dark burgundy. Hungry carnivore. Joy…

"Heh, yes. That would've been me. I'm Alice, as you probably know. And you are?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Jasper Whitlock." He extended his hand. I felt a calm… joy wash over me –to be meeting another person– as I clasped his icy hand. I furrowed my brow, wondering why I was so happy… most carnivores (that's what I called the human-drinkers) were hostile and cruel to me. Just because I didn't participate in their cannibalism. Well, I guess this Jasper could be newly transformed…

But I doubted it. "Care to sit down?" I gestured at my pitiful "camp," which consisted of a bag of clothing and a tarp laid out on the ground. Jasper glanced quickly at it, and flitted over to an oak tree that had grown in front of the tree line.

"Not to be offensive," he muttered apologetically as he settled against it, "But I like to have my back against something." Well, he wasn't overly friendly, which meant he was smart. I folded down onto my tarp, back at my fire-staring spot.

"So, um, where'd you come from?" I tried at conversation. Yes, it was pitiful, but I gave it an effort.

"Well, I was born in Texas, if that's what you mean," He replied with a slight grin. Only his mouth was truly visible, the rest of his face in shadow. Well, he didn't have much of an accent, had to hand it to him there. That would mean that he either moved at an early age, or he had been a vampire for a very long time. I decided on the latter for the moment, even though I disliked the prospect. "Where are you from? Have you always been sitting here chanting your name?" Again, he smiled. Ooo… he had humor.

"Nah, I woke up in Biloxi, Mississippi like this. Before then, I don't know where I was from. I can't remember anything." A wave of despair washed over me again. Why couldn't I remember?_ - dark, yellow eyes glinting with the thrill of a challenge, happy to be hunting bloodsucker-_ "Oh, god." Panic flooded over me, erasing my depression. We had to leave this place, _now._ "Jasper, we have to leave." My voice trembled.

"What is it?" He stood up straight.

His words unfroze me. "Just follow me, _now!_" I bolted out of the clearing, afraid of what I had Seen. It was werewolves, it had to be. They were coming for _us_.

I heard Jasper swear softly and come running after me. I whipped through the forest, trees grasping at my arms and legs. I didn't really care, I hadn't bought those clothes anyway.

We burst out into another clearing with a stream gurgling sinisterly through it. I wasted no time, tearing up an oak to survey the area, to see if the werewolves that I had Seen coming toward us really were following.

The stench that assaulted my nose halfway up the tree confirmed my vision. I immediately leaped out of the tree, before I fell out, and jumped the stream. "Jasper!" I called over my shoulder to him. His head snapped up just as the smell of the dogs caught up to him. He was next to me in a flash.

"There's five of them. Where are we going?" He whispered as he started running.

"I have a cave in mind. I hid there to escape some car- I mean, a nasty coven that came by a couple of weeks ago." I found it amazing that I could be making small talk with a carnivore while running from a pack of vicious werewolves that were out for blood- well, make that death.

Jasper stayed silent, and we sped up, the slope of the ground increasing. The Colorado mountains weren't exactly the ideal place to hide, but they were certainly better than, San Francisco, for instance. We were running up a mountain near a small, soggy, depleted mining town where I had been working. Well, it looked like I needed to disappear again.

We finally broke from tree cover, and were about 500 yards away from the cliff that held my old cave. It had a gigantic boulder next to the entrance that could be dragged into the mouth of it, and pulled back, to seal itself, but there was no back exit. So I would be stuck in a cove with a newly met carnivore for an indeterminable amount of time. My day was just getting better and better.

250 yards across an empty expanse of rock, we heard the pack break through the trees. Their excited baying sent chills running up my spine. We couldn't take them. We had to go faster, but Jasper was lagging. I growled in frustration and kept pace with him. Why couldn't the stupid vampire have fed?!


	2. Cave

Sorry if I scared you guys. I'm still new to the submitting-chapters thing. oo;

**Disclaimer!** I don't own Twilight or New Moon. cries bitter tears

'Kay guys, Lets get it up to 10 reviews, please? And...In case someone is lazy and only reads the bold print:

_**REVIEW!!! lets get 10 reviews before Chapter 3!**_

Oh, and if you don't know, Curly is one of the Three Stooges._**  
**_

Cheers! Relax, Read, and Review. Grey-chan

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If I had been human, I would be dead. Well, no doubt about that, but, I meant as far as running up a hill –well, mountain actually- being chased by a bunch of vampire-thirsty werewolves.

Jasper was over a foot behind me now, and that could make the difference for him, or either of us. For I knew that I couldn't leave him to the dogs. So, I made a solution. I put on an extra burst of speed and skidded around Jasper to appear behind him. I then scooped him up in my arms and put al of my remaining strength on getting us to that stupid, bleep-ing cave. I could hear the panting of the werewolves getting closer by the millisecond.

I abruptly halted and let Jasper fly into the cave, with a string of swear words from him. I whipped around and found that the werewolves had stopped, ten feet away. They had fanned out, blocking all escape, of course. They weren't _that _stupid. I mean, there's werewolves, and then there's Curly. Two completely different kinds of stupid.

I stepped forward, tentatively, and was met by a chorus of growls. Not that there was much point. What could little old me do?

With all their attention focused on me, Jasper had become composed. Next thing I knew, (THAT'S saying something) he had flashed up to the front corner of the cave and snagged the corner werewolf's paw. He dragged it into the cave and gripped it in a full nelson, lowering his lips very close to the werewolf's throat. The dog struggled weakly, but to no avail. Jasper was _thirsty._

He paused. "Alice," he breathed. "Get the boulder. They'd better not move, or else this _thing_ can be my next drink."

There was no doubt the werewolves heard him, because they were alternately growling at us and crying to their comrade. I crept up to the corer of the cave and cautiously slid the granite boulder closer to the entrance. I dragged it slowly, foot by foot, so I wouldn't startle the dogs or anything. Unpredictable idiots that they were. Considering that I couldn't waste a few precious seconds looking into my future, I had to operate for self-preservation.

I finally dragged the stone three-fourths of the way across the entrance. "Stop." I heard Jasper whisper, still inches away from the dog's throat. _A please wouldn't hurt,_ was my first thought, but now was not exactly the time to complain.

"Hey, _puppies_, can you hear me? Your companion here will be bitten if you try anything, so I suggest you not. My companion here is going to leave a slight space between this rock and the edge of the cave, so your friend can slip out. Then we'll close the boulder, ad our games resume. Got it!" Jasper barked out the last two syllables, scaring the mutt in his grasp.

"You _could_ be a little quieter…" I grumbled as I started to pull the rock again. He ignored me.

"Stop." There was a foot between the boulder and the cave wall now. The dogs had started yelping and growling at us, and I could've sworn that they were going to leap forward and rip me to shreds if I didn't stop anyways.

"Okay, dogs, we're going to bring the mutt forward into the crevasse and let him out to you. Comprende?" I barked out at the werewolves outside. I smiled at Japer and gestured for him to come forward. I liked being in control, and this stranger wasn't going to boss me around, dammit.

The next few seconds flashed by unusually quick, even for me. Jasper ducked his head down and bit at the dog's neck, drawing all the blood he could. The animal yelped, and the werewolves outside ran over to the gap to shove their heads inside and see what was going on.

Jasper's head snapped up, and he immediately grabbed his prey and shoved it roughly into the pack's muzzles. They stumbled back, their limp companion following their retreat. His tail was still in the way when I slammed the boulder into the wall and dragged it backwards to successfully plug us in the cave.

"What the HECK were you thinking?!" Jasper and I simultaneously yelled at each other. I glared at him for a solid second or two, staring directly into his pure red eyes.

"Your 'plan' wasn't working, so I improvised, you thirsty little cannibal." I muttered as I turned away from him to stare at the rock that I had pulled into place. – _the rock shuddered with the force of an impact on the other side. A pair of vampires walk calmly toward the back of the cave, peering up at the low ceiling._ – well, that was that. Apparently the werewolves were gathering their strength on the other side of this boulder.

"Oh? How could you know that it wasn't working?" He challenged after a while.

I rounded on him. "You see, if I had had the time, or the energy while you were sucking the blood out of that sorry mutt, I _could_ have told you whether or not it was going to work. Just like right now I can see that our way out of this little hellhole is in the back of the cave somewhere. I bet you're wondering how, aren't you? Well, you know what? I CAN SEE THE FUTURE YOU IDIOT!" I screamed the last words at him, outrage filling my entire being. How could _he_ judge me? He didn't know the first thing about me!

My voice echoed about the small space, reminding me several times in a row that I could be _very_ loud if I wanted to. Jasper clutched his head, as if he was in pain. "Stop," he pleaded. "Calm down, _please_. It hurts." He slowly got up and walked over to my shaking frame. I was on the verge of a breakdown. I could feel madness tugging at the edges of my consciousness, just waiting for something to push me just a little bit farther…

Jasper was suddenly next to me, with his arm draped across my shoulders comfortingly. "You're right, Alice," He said, almost to himself. "I don't know anything about you, and I shouldn't judge you. You've obviously had a rough life, and I hope it gets better from now on." He squeezed my shoulders lightly. My hysteria had cooled, and was now replace by an odd feeling. I had never had this much physical contact with anyone, and Jasper's had seemed to leave a print around my shoulders as he unwrapped his arm and took my shoulders. I stayed limp, slightly dazed, an electric feeling ran through me.

Jasper looked me in the eyes. "Are you okay? Alice?

"Yes," I murmured.

He growled. "Don't lie. You've never been okay with yourself. There's something buried deep in you, and I intend to fix that ache you feel." I stared as he placed one hand over my still heart. He paused and then broke away from me, starting toward the back of the cave. I stood, dumbfounded, feeling open and exposed. Hadn't we just been yelling at each other? How did this stranger know so much?!

Jasper turned back to look at me, grinning slightly. "Now how exactly do we get out of here again?"

I walked over, still bemused. I finally looked up and began making my way farther back into the cave. The ceiling slanted sharply, and I only walked back as far as I could without stooping. Nothing. I scooted back a way, and I saw a tiny, faint glimmer. "What's that?" I asked, reaching up to brush it with my hand. The rock immediately crumbled away to reveal a chute, about three feet wide, reaching all the way up to the top of the cliff.

I smiled. "There you have it. There's our escape route."


	3. Escaping

Hey, all. Sorry I haven't updated in forever, but we got a huge ice storm and the power's been flickering on and off. BUT I have 3 chapters for you!

So, I'm going to cut all of the little parts that say _**READ AND REVIEW **_from the next two chapters. As long as you do!

Oh, and I won't give you Chapter 6 until we get at least ten reviews. So please do!

Happy, um, days. Grey-chan

_**   
**_

_**Chapter 3**_

"Oh….kay?" Jasper looked upwards skeptically. "If you're sure that I can fit up there…"

"Of course you can!!" I said enthusiastically. "Come on, Jasper, have faith in yourself!" I then promptly jumped up and wedged myself in the chute. With my hands and feet splayed apart, I inched upwards. After what seemed like and eternity to me, but was actually only five minutes, I crawled up the 500 feet to the top of the cliff. Hey, I never said it was a friendly cliff.

I hauled myself up onto the granite shelf. It was about 20 feet wide, and the color of…granite. "Jasper!" I whispered down the hole. "Get up here! We'll be safe, and if you feel motivated enough, we can even ambush the 'wolves from here!" I pulled my head back from the hole and peered over the outside edge of the cliff. The 'wolves had organized themselves and were backing up for an attack. On the boulder. They really were _stupid._ Well, Looking never lost me anything except a little bit of time. _– the 'wolves break through, making the cliff shudder and releasing a shower of rocks onto Jasper, who's halfway up the chute. He slips and falls down to the floor of the cave. The werewolves howl and rush forward--_

A shuddering crash shook me out of my trance. They had beaten through already! I rushed to the edge of the cliff—to see them preparing for another strike. Well, at least I got a few seconds to plan. I rushed over and quickly ducked down to talk to Jasper. "Hey?"

"Wha--at?" He looked up unhappily.

"Hold on tight. Okay?"

"What, you think I didn't feel that last shake? It made me slide down about 20 feet!"

I peered down into the darkness to see two slide marks where Jasper had dug his hands into the rock. "Ouch. Right then, well, you'll be falling in a moment." I stood up and walked over to the edge of the cliff, fighting to hide my panic. Here I was, risking my eternal afterlife for a random carnivore. What was with me?

_"Stop thinking, dolt. Just do it."_ I wasn't used to my conscience being so rude. It kind of hurt my feelings. Oh, well. I could teach it a lesson later.

I rocked back on my heels and took a deep breath. A huge whiff of wet werewolf assaulted my senses, and I nearly keeled over. I stumbled forward again and held my breath this time. I rocked forward and dove over the cliff just as the werewolves charged forward for the fatal blow. To the boulder. Really, these guys were _thick._

Those were my thoughts as I was racing through 500 feet of air to a nice dirt landing, were I would be attempting to defend a complete stranger from five werewolves, which were the only things that could kill me other than the complete stranger himself. I had just enough time to confirm the absurdity of my situation before I had to flip around in midair to land on my feet. I believed that a resounding crash that shook the ground beneath my feet was from _my_ landing, but it was, in fact, from the werewolves _shattering_ the boulder. I sat down in my nice little crater, stunned. Unfortunately, my wretched conscience wouldn't let me compose my brains, oh no. It just decided to hijack my body.

I robotically got up and began running toward the cave entrance. I was there in a flash, and I looked onto the scene unfolding before my eyes with dumb horror.

The werewolves had surrounded a fallen Jasper, and were slowly tightening their circle around him like a noose. I couldn't think, speak, move—I was frozen. Blind panic rolled up inside me, and my dirty conscience took back its earlier determination to keep Jasper alive. It now wanted me to start running as fast as I could and never look back.

Jasper suddenly looked up, straight through the row of werewolves, straight into my eyes. I saw the panic framed in those eyes disappear. _Why? Why!? _A wave of calm clarity seemed to strike my body, nearly making me move. My goal was now clear: get Jasper out of the cave. What ever happened after that, happened.

Startled by my sudden resolution, it took me a bit to realize that I was careening towards the line of werewolves, screaming threats and other useless words that came into my mind. They shrank back just long enough for me to run through the gap, snatch Jasper, and fly back out. By the time I was out of the cave they realized what I was doing and were after me like normal wolves after a rabbit. Only rabbits don't have to carry other rabbits. _They _wouldn't be stupid enough to.

"ALICE!" Jasper screamed at me from his uncomfortable position in my arms. I looked down, startled out of my reverie.

"What?"

"I've been sitting here saying your name for a solid minute now." He looked up, his straight blond hair blowing in his face. "You need to rest, before we run into a tree or something. You're tired, and I'm still fresh from that wolf."

I frowned down at him, swerving out of the way of a tree. "I am perfectly fine."

"You nearly hit that tree. Either you're tired, or you're attracted to me." He smirked. "I don't think it's the latter, just because if you were, you'd let me do the freaking work!"

My frown deepened into a scowl. "You loser! I have half a mind to dump you in the stream. No, that would be too good for you. Something worse." The effrontery of it! Me, attracted to him. I'd only met him, about, what, an hour ago! "Well, simply to prove myself true, you are not getting to run, and that's that. After all, _I'm_ the one who saved your sorry butt!"

"Yeah, sure. And what'll happen when those werewolves catch up ter us, eh?" He drawled. Yes, he _drawled!_ I paused in my thought for a moment, and that was all he needed to wriggle free of my hold and roll to the ground. I was still running, but I assume that he leapt to his feet, because the next thing I knew, our situation was reversed. I glared up at him from his arms.

"Y'all are a deerty treekster, ya know? H'aint fair ter user yer accent as a prop. " I drawled right back at him. He just laughed and sped up. Like I had known him for a lifetime. I looked down at my hands, utterly confused. I shouldn't let my guard down around Jasper. He was a _carnivore_, for heaven's sake! Why the heck did he make me so damn relaxed? I was making up accents for pleasure! I immediately checked my guard and promised myself it wouldn't happen again. –_it was the tree again, with me and Jasper up in it, talking and laughing. The view zoomed out, and we were up in the highest bows of a pine tree. The werewolves searched for us far below on the ground.-- _Well, there was our destination.

I looked up at the surrounding scenery and recognized where we were. "Left." I muttered coldly, and Jasper looked down, surprised. He obeyed, talking a sharp turn left, and I took a sudden interest in the ground to avoid his inquiring gaze. He had said he was going to fix me. What. The. Hell. I'll admit it, I was pretty frightened and confused. I didn't like my emotions changing so rapidly, as they seemed to have in the past hour. Sad to happy to scared…. It was too much. There were times like that where I truly wished I could sleep. I instead settled at concentrating on where the eff that stupid tree was.

"Right." "Left." Each was as chilly as the first. I sensed Jasper's increasing distress at my guarded phrases, but he didn't comment.

"There." I lifted a hand and pointed halfheartedly at the tall pine. It was a truly giant tree, about half the size of a redwood. Which was, if not astronomical, pretty huge all the same. The branches started sprouting from the trunk about 30 feet up.

"Hol-ee flip." Jasper loosened his grip and let me down. He was still staring up by the time I had brushed myself off and straightened. "That is one BIG tree."

"And, apparently, we get to climb it." I said matter-of-factly. I started across the bed of cushy pine-needles toward the trunk. Jasper and I together could not have reached around it halfway with our arms outstretched.

Jasper flashed up next to me, and soon we were next to the trunk, searching hurriedly for handholds. "The werewolves are getting really close…" Jasper muttered, and I immediately gave up searching for a way to not harm the tree. I reached up as far as I could and dug my hand into the tree. Sap oozed onto my hand, but I ignored it and reached up my opposite foot, digging it into the tree also. I hauled myself up, and shifted to the left as far as I could before jamming my other hand and foot in. I was trying to make it look like I hadn't escaped up the tree, to put the 'wolves off a bit.

I was soon at the first branch, and I perched on it to watch Jasper make his way up. He, intelligently, took a completely different route, so now the tree would just look damaged instead of climbed-on. Suddenly remembering what we were running from, I scurried up to one of the topmost branches of the tree and squinted out into the night. There were trees shuddering about a quarter of a mile away, so _they_ were pretty close.

I turned down to tell Jasper to hurry up, and came face to face with him. Face to _very close_ face. His-nose-was-about-two-inches-away close. "Room for… one more?" He breathed out the phrase, seeming to ask for a lot more than a spot on the branch. I nodded dumbly, and he breezed past me to plop unceremoniously onto the branch, which was about a foot in diameter. He looked down at me and patted the spot next to him. "We need to talk." He said very seriously. I almost believed he was sincere.

But I grumbled and stepped up to the branch. He reached out his hand, almost as if to steady me, but stilled the motion and put it back in his lap. He tried to smile, but it came out as more of a grimace. "Old habits die hard," he explained.

I sat down on the branch, my feet not touching the next branch down. "Well then, about this talking business," I started. "How about you start the questions?" _So I can straighten my mind out._

"Sure." He seemed startled. "Well, then, how did you come about being in Colorado?"


	4. Breakdown

Sorry guys, I forgot my disclaimers. I don't own _Twilight_, _New Moon_, or Jasper and Alice. (They come together)

**_  
Chapter 4  
_**

"Colorado? Well, its just one state over from Kansas, of course." I was so surprised by his simple question that I answered it as I would with a best friend. Jasper, however, didn't laugh. He simply stared at me.

"And this has significance because?"

"Okay, I really don't know how the hell I ended up in Colorado. It has lots of trees, I guess?" I offered. After all, I wasn't giving up my real reason for being in Colorado to this stranger. _"Yeah, Alice. After all, you only saved his life twice. You don't owe him anything at all. If anything, he owes you. And you shouldn't feel attached to him, or even try to become friends. After all, the last time you had a friend, you moved here, just for them, and then what? They forgot about you. Or so you think…"_ My conscience again. I really, _really_ hated that thing. Why couldn't it have died with my heart and sanity? _"I'm the one keeping you sane, stupid Alice."_

"FINE!" I growled. "Jasper, listen. My conscience won't leave me alone, and my gut says I have to trust you, so if you decide to suddenly betray me…" A snarl ripped from my throat at the thought of what I'd do to him.

Jasper seemed slightly startled by my sudden mood change, from stoic and independent to moody and angry. He stayed silent, though, and fixed me with his solemn gaze. I glared at the needles surrounding me and began to talk very fast, in a low monotone. "I had a human friend I had acquired from when I took night classes at a university. They were very lenient there, for letting me take classes. Then with my unstylish short hair…" I snorted. "Anyways, I made a friend, we graduated at the same time, and she was moving to Colorado where there was a job open for her. I told her I had nothing better to do, and would come with her. We came to Denver. I started working a night shift at a factory, and she had a day job that paid lots of money." I began to chuckle. "It paid her in more ways than that. Soon she got a husband, and had a kid. My visits to her became less and less frequent, and soon enough, they stopped altogether. I was too young to pass for a thirty-year-old."

I started laughing, unable to stop. My laughs soon turned to quiet, dry sobs that made me shake. Jasper reached out for me, but I held up a hand. My other hand left my face and ripped into the trunk of the pine. I let out a shuddering breath. "Let me finish." _"That's the way to do it, Alice. let it all out."_

"During the time with my friend, I wasn't completely on an animal diet. I just made sure I was well fed when I went to visit her. After I left her, I retreated into the wilderness to completely convert into a 'vegetarian.' I had heard of the concept from a vampire that worked at the factory. His eyes were amber, and he spoke of untold things that he could do, now that he had 'cured' himself."

"So I took his advice and ran away into the wilderness. I've been in and out of jobs and small towns for the past ten years. Making no friends, because it hurts too much. I also have had several vampire covens come through the area and… and… try to hurt me. I always hole up in that cave we were just in," I smiled half-heartedly. "Only I didn't know how to get out. It used to have quite a rat population," I paused. "And that's the story of my vampiric life."

I turned and stared Jasper in the eyes, searching for something. Sympathy, perhaps? Maybe not. Trust? Whatever… Pretty eyes. I had to trust him, because there was no one else in the world that I could. And he seemed okay, he had a laughing personality, and… what was wrong with my head? Oh well, I dismissed the thought. Too late for sanity. Might as well damn myself to eternal hell thoroughly.

Jasper broke the eye contact after a bit, and leaned forward to hug me. Half of me, my conscience presumably, wanted to wrench away and revert back to my earlier mood, but I shoved that part of me very far back in my mind and hugged Jasper back. Why not, ya know? I was already half insane, talking to myself and all that stuff.

After a long while, I contemplated putting my head on Jasper's shoulder. He was holding the hug extremely long. Just as I though that, he pulled away. I stared at him, not feeling the pain or sadness I had just minutes before. His eyes were cloudy, the pupils gone. I had just got a good stare in before he shook his head like a dog and they were back to normal. What…the….

Then he smiled at me. His eyes smiled too. His gorgeous, mysterious, depthless eyes. I realized I felt completely exhausted, and blinked hard. _I should get some food…. _but Jasper… I didn't want – I _couldn't_ stay away from those eyes for more than a second. They understood. They were indescribable. _Alice, listen. If you don't eat _something _soon, I'll quit working on you,_ my body seemed to tell me. I weighed the odds of Jasper leaving against my thirst. He wouldn't leave, why should he? I did save his life, after all. And why did I care? Just because he had _amazing_ eyes didn't mean I knew him. What's an hour or two to judge whether or not someone hates you?

My thirst won out and I shifted to get off of the branch. Jasper started, and caught my arm. "What are you doing?" He hissed.

"Going to eat," I said, slightly put off. _Was_ he going to leave? "I could stay," I said hesitantly. _Only if his eyes would stay too. _

He snaked his arm around my head to gently cover my mouth. "Not so loud," He mouthed, and pointed downwards. I looked through the net of branches below us and saw several vague shapes moving around. _"The werewolves, stupid. What, had you forgotten about them? Believe a pair of eyes can save you now?"_

"You had better stay, Alice. I don't know, I might get into trouble if you leave." Jasper dropped his hand so his arm was simply around my shoulders. "And what would I do then," he seemed to nonchalantly ask my hair.

"One assumes you would have to wait until I was happily full. Then I would come and ask you my round of questions before I would save you again." I quipped quietly back. I then poked him in the ribs. "I would feel no need to hurry, because, after all, you're supposed to be immortal." I savored the feeling of Jasper's eyes on me. _"You? Savor anything? Jasper must be magical. Or you're in…"_ I snapped my conscience's door in my brain shut. They were pretty eyes, that's all.

I heard Jasper mutter something then, and I didn't quite catch it. It sounded like "I used to _feel_ immortal, but not anymore…" But that couldn't be right. I decided to ponder that later.

"Well then, how about it's my turn for questioning. I trust that I'm the only one who'll explode during questioning?" I tried to make the fact that I was sorry eminent in that comment.

I think Jasper smiled. Not that I'm sure he ever stopped. "I don't think I'll have any reason to, now at least." I am NOT going to add that this whole conversation was being whispered, for fear of the five monsters prowling around that wanted to eat us.

"_Now?_ Hmm… well, then, here's my first question: Why now?" I thought it was a good question for the time it took me to say it. Then I regretted asking.

"Ah, what a strange start. Actually, you only get one more question after this. _I_ only asked you two."

I poked him again. "Stop dodging. Answer," I demanded. I then added a "…please?"

"Fine, fine, I'll answer. But no laughing at me," He said seriously. "Because A, the werewolves would most likely hear you and B, it'd hurt my feelings." I turned my head to look at him quizzically, and he pouted. If I had had a beating heart, it would have sped up. Was he really flirting? _Really?_

I snorted and poked him again. "I said no more stalling."

He sighed. "Fine, no tricking the tigress. Well, as for now," I glared at him and he put his index finger to my lips. "Hey, I'm getting there. I just want this to sound halfway sane." He took a deep breath. "I just couldn't have a breakdown now, if ever, because I'm not thinking about myself right now…. well, let me put it this way. I'm not thinking about any of my _problems_ right now; my thoughts are purely selfish."


	5. More Questions

Chapter 5

"Jasper," I looked at him solemnly. "You are a little weasel." He wanted me to use up my second question! I kicked him.

"Ow!" He took his arm off my shoulders to rub his calf.

"Aww, poor wittle Jasper get hurt by a girlie?" I said in an overly sympathetic voice. "Want me to kiss the boo-boo for you?"

Jasper looked up and glared at me. "What, you want me to answer those questions? Do they count?" He grinned evilly. "I think they should."

"No— " I gulped. "Fine. _Be_ that way." I scooted towards the trunk and swung my legs up on the branch, with my back to the tree. I crossed my ankles. "You know, some questions are meant to be rhetorical… but if you want to play it that way…" I grinned back at him. "Those two questions you asked me right there, they count. So, You've asked me four, and I've asked you three. I have one more still." I stuck my tongue out at him as his face fell.

"Well, fine. Ask your question." He put his hands in his lap and smiled at me. "Though I'm sure you'll only get more questions. I know you love that."

"Yup." I smiled halfheartedly at him and looked out into the distance. For about five minutes I contemplated what I would ask him. I mean, I couldn't waste my last…

"Are you going to ask me a question or not?!" I turned to see Jasper staring at me exasperatedly.

"Well, I'll ask my _two questions _when I think of ones to ask." Jasper looked confused.

"When did you get another question?"

"I have three questions now…" I smiled wickedly, and it took him a moment to catch on.

"You… well, fine. I guess I started it," He sighed.

I grinned at him. "Okay, here's my first question," I paused for dramatic effect. For a _very long _dramatic effect. Long enough for Jasper to yell at me.

"Will you hurry the eff up? I mean, um, hurry up! That question doesn't count," He added.

"I don't know…_you_ weren't very nice to _me_…" I wanted to see how many more questions I could get out of this.

"Okay, look, you can have as many questions as you want!! I'm sorry I ever started this," He muttered darkly.

"Okay, great! First question," I started. "Why did you call me a tigress?"

He looked startled. "I'm surprised you even noticed. Oh, I guess it was just a nickname that popped into my head. And you're majestic and fearsome, and man-eating I assume…"

"Man-eating? Really?" Maybe Jasper was a loony. He was certainly acting like one. Then again, hadn't I been going on about his eyes just a few minutes back?

"Yeah, man-eating. You're a vampire. Remember?"

"Well, that's not really _eating_…"

"Oh, it's close enough."

"Well, I'm off that kind of diet anyways. _You_ should be too."

"Oh real-ly?" He looked at me doubtfully. "Convince me."

"I'll never save you again if you don't."

"So?"

"I'll also push you out of this tree while screaming if you don't."

"I'm convinced… I'll put it on my growing list of goals." He reclined backwards onto a branch that was about mid-back height for him. That branch would've hit me on my shoulders. Stupid tall person. A thought then occurred to me.

"What's on your list of goals?" I inquired.

"Releasing myself of my addiction to humans." He smiled mysteriously.

"I want another thing on your list." He was such a—a—dirty… snaky-thing.

"How about no?" He grinned even wider. I glared at him and pulled my foot back, as if to kick him. He cringed, but didn't relent. Which meant I had to sit and wonder. Unless…

"You will tell me one more thing. I'll do anything." I put a pleading look on. "I promise, I'll do anything you ask as long as it doesn't endanger anyone's life."

He looked at me incredulously. "Anything I ask? You really want to know that badly?" Maybe he would let me off the hook?

"Well then…" Nope. No such luck. "Here, sit up." He said, suddenly gentle. He had sat up himself, and had turned towards me with his hand held out to me. I took it, and as I was re-orienting myself, I looked up through the branches at the sky.

"It's going to rain soon… that's good for us…" I looked back down, at Jasper, and set my hands in my lap.

"Well?" I turned towards him. I leaned on my elbow, with my chin in my hand that was farthest from Jasper. That was my right hand, just to say.

He looked at me, and I was suddenly caught up in his eyes again. Why did they have to come back, right when I was going to find out something about evasive Jasper? _"Well, I think it's past time to stick my nose in and say,' follow your heart, honey.' Boy, am I getting cliche-ish or what? I need a vacation. Her sanity took one, why can't I?" _My conscience, my obsession, why did they all have to come back to haunt me now? –_"Just close your eyes and hold still, please?" Jasper looked me in the eyes as I obediently closed them and he leaned forward, gently touching my cheek – _I started. _Everything_ was coming back now…

I shook free of them all and looked at Jasper _seriously_. His eyes sharpened. "You sure about this?" He asked.

"Why not? You can't do anything to me." _Can _you?

"You could hate me after this. But that's okay, it's happened before, and I could just move on. You wouldn't have to see me ever again." He smiled sadly.

This was strange… all these thoughts were running around in my head and running into my skull. Little bits them floated around in my mind. _Why would I hate Jasper? Oh yeah. It has to have something to do with what I Saw…and then what Stupid Conscience said… maybe it's not Conscience and I'm just schizophrenic… but either way…. It seems like I'm a bit behind EVERYONE! _Then it dawned on me. 'Follow your heart'? _Heart? _Ah-ha! So… he liked me?

It was completely silent for a moment, and Jasper seemed to make up his mind. He leaned forward, but I caught his arm. "Look, Jasper," I rasped, trying to find my voice. It cleared as my resolve did. "You, most likely, are _not_ going to go anywhere for awhile. Okay? And I think I know what you're going to ask." He looked startled but stayed silent. "So I'll ask it of you. Just close your eyes and hold still, please?"

He didn't shut his eyes, and I didn't expect him to. His eyes lit up, though, and there seemed to be a fire inside them. He leaned forward, just as I did, and –

A deep, monstrous rumble ripped through the valley, amplified by the mountain we were on. We both jumped considerably.

"I told you it was going to rain," I taunted smugly as a drop hit me in the eye.

Jasper started laughing too, and I grinned and went back to my non-leaning position.

"Um, Jasper?" He looked at me, relief eminent in his eyes. The question was, relief from _what?_

"Mm-hmm?" He quirked an eyebrow. At that look, I felt like I had fallen out of our tree, minus the broken arm, leg, skull... and getting chopped up by a pack of werewolves.

"You said you were going to fix me, back there in the cave?" I looked for confirmation, and he nodded, his brow furrowing slightly. I could almost have laughed at his expression. What did he think I was going to say?

"Well," I began, and looked downward. Ugh. Bad choice. Off to the side. I edged closer to him, and I wasn't quite sure if he noticed or not. "I'm not sure if I quite need to be fixed." I was almost touching him, and looked up at him innocently; I almost had to tilt my head backwards.

He leaned down the tiniest bit--ok, a lot--and stared me straight in the eyes. "Who says I haven't already fixed you?"

This took me back a few steps. Mental steps, of course. It's hard to walk backwards while sitting on a tree branch. I'm sure they've done it... Then I remembered his eyes after he hugged me. Misty… But this was all beside the point!

I recovered fairly quickly and blinked innocently. "Anyways, I was thinking…" I got quieter as I went, and he leaned the tiniest bit closer. "That…I'm…not…the one…who needs to be… fixed." I breathed out the phrase, happy with the result. Jasper looked almost intoxicated. _ "You do realize that's probably how you look every time you think about—" _I slammed a mental door on Conscience, again.

"That was… on my list, fixing you. Near the top, of course…" Jasper smiled faintly. He was so incredibly close that if I had glasses, they would be successfully fogged. That would at least solve the issue of inability to concentrate because of his eyes...

"And at the top?" I smiled. Two things I wanted, both so very, very, _close—_

"You haven't figured it out yet?" Jasper chuckled, and I felt lightheaded. "You're a bit slow today."

"Well, I've only known you for today, so how would you know that I'm not slow all the time?" I quipped back.

"Because no one can be _that _slow." He was still laughing at me.

"You... you..." I stuck my tongue out at him. Good thing I have a short tongue, or that action would have caused a few minor issues.

"Hey, whatever happened to those stupid dogs?"

"You mean the werewolves?"

"No, I mean the spiders eating our pie."

"You really didn't need to say that. You could just say 'yes' or possibly even 'no,' you know."

"Where's the fun in that? We've got the whole rest of eternity to fill up, what's the point of saving time?"

"Saving time means we can get back to questioning... hey. List. Now."

"Not even a 'please' for poor Jasper? Boy. You're demanding."

"Shut up."

"See what I mean?"

"List."

"Make up your mind! Do you want me to shut up, or list?"

"How about I push you out of this tree?"

"No, wasn't one of the original options. To shut up or list, that is the question."

"List, then."

"Well, you haven't done what I wanted yet."

"What? You never said there was anything you wanted me to do!"

"That doesn't mean anything."

"So what is it, then?"

"If I tell you, you'll know, and then you'll do it, and then you'll _demand _to know the list."

"That's the idea."

"And besides, it ruins all the fun if you _know_ what I want you to do. I prefer you do it on your own."

I calmly lifted my hand as if to punch him--and jammed it into the branch beside me.

CRACK.


	6. Falling is a great way to die

Hey, sorry I haven't updated again. t was a lost hope for more than 10 reviews. But I got ten, so, no complaining from me. grumble

Enjoy Chapter 6. It was fun.

Grey-Chan

**Chapter 6**

"I hope that was your stomach," Jasper whimpered.

CRACK.

"Or some more of that thunder."

My butt stung faintly as the bark rubbed against my thighs like a rug burn. Only more like... a branch burn...

Chronological sequence of events:

Sliding.

CRACK.

Windmill arms.

Grab branch behind us.

SNAP.

BIG tug on ankle.

Hanging on by arms.

"Branch burns _really_ hurt."

"You're telling me this because?"

"We have all of eternity, remember?"

"Um, this isn't _exactly _what I had in mind."

Did I mention Jasper was hanging onto my ankle? I was saving his life... AGAIN

"But pretty close. You know, you, me, hanging out... in a tree."

"This reminds me of a song we used to sing in grade school. How did it go again? Lets see, if I substitute our names in, it would go 'Alice and Jasper sitting in a tree'…"

CRACK.

"I'm not even going to tell you how much I wish that was your back popping."

"Why Jasper, I'm touched that you care that much about my spine breaking. But no, I'm sorry. I think all my vertebrae gave up trying to be friends a while back."

"What?"

CRACK.

"Um, hey, Jasper?"

"What."

"Be prepared to grab onto another branch."

CRACK.

SNAP.

I fell for a short bit and latched onto a convenient ankle that passed by. Or up.

"I do believe our situation has reversed."

"Thank you for the newsflash."

"How long d'ya think this'll last?"

"Well, lets see... no branches below me...us..."

"I prefer to think of it as you."

"That's touching. You get very cold and uncaring when your life is in danger, you know."

"What life?"

"That was a very cold, uncaring remark on your part. We are quite the opposites."

"Meaning?"

"I like to save other people's 'lives' when I'm in danger. In fact, I like to put myself in danger to save their sorry pessimism."

There was silence for a moment.

"I think I'm slipping. The branch is wet."

"Then grip it grip it harder, you idiot!"

CRACK.

"I think you gripped the branch too hard, Jasper..."

CRACK.

"You need some practice."

CRACK.

"Maybe some other day."

SNAP.

I fell for another short bit and landed unceremoniously on a thicker branch. I have no idea how it got there, because I hadn't seen it when I had looked. Also, by unceremoniously, I mean that I was draped over it like a noodle.

"OOF."

"OOF." Jasper landed next to me in a similar position.

"So."

"So."

"How's the weather?"

"I think it might be raining."

"You think so?"

"Are the wolfies still down there?"

Jasper craned his neck.

"Do you want it blunt or nice?"

"Probably neither."

"For the sake of consistency, I'll be blunt."

"Umm.."

"No."

"What?"

"They aren't down there."

"Oh."

"Unless they're good at hide and seek."

"Are you kidding me? They've played tag with a boulder."

"Huh?"

"Remember how they got into the cave?"

"No."

"And you call me stupid."

"Shall we re-orient ourselves so we aren't hanging out like laundry?"

"I dunno...this hanging isn't hurting my branch-burn."

"Personally, your branch burn can go and die in a corner."

"You just hurt my butt's feelings."

"Aww, your poor butt."

"My butt is very important, thank-you-very-much."

"I, personally, do not care. But I have already expressed my feelings on this matter, so I shall now get up."

He then proceeded to try to get up onto the branch, which was incredibly entertaining. He got his arms underneath himself, and pushed himself up. Unfortunately –or maybe fortunately, it depends on whether you have a morbid sense of humor– Jasper's body was not on its balance point. The lower half or his body slid backwards, off the branch, and he had to catch himself to prevent a very clumsy fall. Henceforth, he ended up in a worse position than he started in, with his arms wrapped uncomfortably around the two-foot thick branch. I laughed at him, long and hard.

"Well, lets see you do it then," He challenged.

"Butt-burn, remember?"

"Aww, poor wittle Awice, too afwaid of a wittle pain to pwove Jasper wrong?"

"Well, if you put it that way…." I swung my leg up onto the branch and pushed myself up so I was straddling the branch. I then swung my leg back around and looked down at my accuser. "That was easy," I teased.

"Now, will you help me up?" Jasper put on a pitiful show, looking all sad and hopeless while clinging to the branch.

"Oh, fi-ine. Just don't whine after this about me being stupid. Give me your hand."

"I can't."

"Why not?"

"If I let go with one hand, I'll slip and fall."

"Oh, bull." I kicked him hard, in the side, and he cringed, losing his grip on the branch. I reached out and snatched his hand, throwing my weight backwards. I hauled Jasper up, and he ended up draped across the branch, just like he started.

"Now, swing your leg up, and, well, you saw how I did it."

Jasper was suddenly sitting next to me. "Well, after three agonizing falls and uncomfortable moments, we should be bonded for life, shouldn't we?"

"I'd prefer not, if it makes any difference to you."

"What, do I smell or something?"

"No, you smell positively delicious. That better?" I tried to make my sarcasm evident.

"I preferred it when you disliked me."

"Are you sure?" I scooted insanely close to him and looked up with doe eyes. Well, at least I thought they were doe eyes.

"Don't tempt me," He looked at me, sighed, and looked pointedly away.

"Tempt you to do what?" I blinked innocently and latched onto his arm.

"Well, number one on my list was to grab you and throw you off the tree." I became slightly apprehensive at that comment, but nevertheless drove onward.

"…and?" My voice trembled slightly. This was a nice prank, though. Let's play the mess-with-Jasper's-mind game! Oh wait. I already was. Tee hee.

"Well, the second option was to play the same game you are." Damn, he was quick.

"Hey, Alice, I'll give you a hint for my list." I suddenly dropped the doe eyes and slid away a bit.

"What? What is it?" He stared pointedly at me. "Oh, um, please?"

"Ah, I have trained you well. Well, here's the hint." He winked cheekily at me. "My third option back there and my first goal are almost the same."

There was silence for a moment. "You…are…a…devil!" In a spasm of violence, I pushed Jasper, _hard_. He windmilled his arms, in search of something to catch onto to regain his balance, and seized……me. So, instead of just him falling off the tree, we both fell. Amazingly enough, we didn't hit the one branch below us and proceeded directly to the ground.

We landed in a heap of limbs, which was _not_ good for my self-esteem. I was nose-to-toe with a dark brown hiking boot. I then felt a poke on my thigh. My _upper_ thigh.

"What is that?"

"That's my thigh, you dolt!

In order to orient myself, I decided to find out where my hand was. I punched it forward, and heard a grunt from Jasper.

"Stomach?" I guessed.

"Yes, that's right." He wheezed.

"I propose we untangle ourselves." If I stayed like this any longer, I would die of embarrassment.

"And how do we go about this proposed untangling?"

"Swiftly and silently, so the werewolves don't hear us."

"Ah. Good idea. Now, who's going to be cooperative and who's going to– oof." I think I kicked Jasper in the stomach just then as I fought to free myself. After that, he was very helpful by staying still and silent. I finally got up and brushed myself off. Actually, I just kind of smeared the mud around, since I was wet from the rain. I also popped my back, which was stiff from being abused.

"Well, where do we go now?"

"You know, I kind of liked that tree… I've become fond of it."

"Hell no, I am _not_ going back up there!" That tree was cursed. I swear it was. I then started stalking off into the forest, calling back over my shoulder. "I'm going to find something to eat, –drink, whatever– and you're welcome to stay and go back up your precious tree."

Jasper got up and came over. "Nah, I want to see how you hunt." _Great. He'll probably screw me up and then I'll be laughed at again._

I tried to turn my thoughts around as I started running, stretching my senses to the extreme. I was completely animalesque. _Deer, looking for deer._ I caught a scent, and veered sharply after it. It was still vaguely fresh, so the werewolves had gone the other way.

Closer, closer– I burst into a clearing where a whole herd of deer was grazing. It took me less than a millisecond to pick out the weakest old doe, and I pounced. She struggled weakly, but I ended her life quickly and drank. I felt new power surge through me, and drank my fill before laying the doe on the ground.

Still hypersensitive, I felt another presence in the clearing and whipped around, snarling. Jasper was at the edge of the clearing, staring at me. I didn't recognize him, embarrassingly, so I adopted a protective position over my kill.

"Alice, it's me." Jasper stepped forward cautiously. I snapped out of my hunting-mode when he said that, and stood up.

"Well, you have observed me hunting. Happy?"

"I'm more scared than happy, just to let you know…" He _did_ sound queasy. What, were the werewolves back on our trail?

"Why?"

"You."

"Oh?"

"Well, the coven I was with before… they may have hunted humans, but they weren't nearly as scary as you were just then."

"What makes me so scary?" Really. I didn't scare myself –except for the talking-to-myself part– so how scary could I be? I'm 4'10" for cripes' sake!

"It's just the combination of your wild power and agility," I snorted, but Jasper continued. "And your beauty. It's scary."

"Come on Jasper, don't get all sentient on me." I mean, _really._

"I think you mean sentimental. Sentient would mean that I just became capable of feeling and perceiving the world. And I've been doing that for awhile." He grinned. "Really, you need to work on your vocabulary."

"I'll put it on our list of goals." _"Finally acknowledging my presence? I'm touched. Maybe I won't take a vacation after all."_

"Our?"

"Please, don't ask."

"I do believe I just did."

"I don't mean you and me, okay? Now leave it be."

"Whatever you say, majesty."

I nodded seriously at him and pondered what to do. It would be a seriously bad idea to stay out in the wilds; Jasper and I might fall in love or something ludicrous like that. _"Come on, you're already halfway–"_ I slammed the mental door on Conscience yet again. So, that left us to go into some city. A perfect opportunity to train Jasper.

"Hey, follow me." I strode quickly out of the clearing, down towards the dreary little mountain town. It was time to empty my bank account.


	7. Jumping is a great way to die

Yo, guys.sorry, but I've started to write chapters longer, so it takes a bit more to write them. Chapter 8 _still_ isn't over... Oh, yeah. that reminds me. I'll try to start replying to reviews... I figure its nice, riiiight?

Enjoy some romance and vague comedy. Sorry if its cheezy, but hey, if you have ways I can improve...

REVIEW!

XD

Grey-chan

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Chapter 7

"Hello, Jane." I greeted the bank teller with my usual cheer. It was a very small bank, dingy and old-fashioned. Jasper and I had already visited the factory and told the head officer that I was quitting. I had made sure Jasper was so full he could barely keep from retching, (He had fed on some more deer, of course) and he was keeping up well.

"Oh, and whom might this be? Not some stranger I hope," Jane chuckled. The old woman peered through her spectacles at Jasper.

"Oh, no, he's a cousin from my mother's side. He's some to pick me up." I smiled sweetly, and I elbowed Jasper so he would smile too. I realized this was putting an incredible strain on him, but _really._ I had checked the future before we got here, and nothing was going to happen. He could be a little warm.

"Oh? Where might you be going?" Small town people. They were too conversational for their own good.

"I'm moving back east to live with my Aunt; apparently there's a shortage of schoolteachers over in Tennessee." I laughed, slightly nervously. Old Jane better hurry up before something _did_ happen.

"Well, you'll want me to send your money over there?"

"Oh, no. I'll just remove it here. Silly Jasper spent all of his on the way here."

"Well, I didn't know it cost so much to get here! The prices these days," Jasper grumbled. His playing along surprised me, but hey, it didn't hurt!

Jane smiled and trundled over to my bank vault, fishing out her ring of keys. I swear, one day someone was going to rob that old woman. "If you're sure you want to be traveling with that much money, dearie…"

"Oh, yes. I do believe Jasper'll keep me safe." He was lucky I was good at lying.

"Well, if you're sure, dearie."

She unlocked my vault and pulled out fifty one hundred dollar bills. She shuffled back over and handed them to me. "There you are."

"And you," Jane glared sternly at Jasper. "You take care of our Alice. We will miss you dearie," She added to me. "Do come and visit."

"I will try, ma'am." I felt kind of bad for lying to these people, but not overly. I would've had to leave soon anyway. I was pushing 26.

I shoved the bills into the pocket of my jeans and made my way to the door. "Be careful," Jane added to our backs as we left. I would try, but, you know, I'm a vampire.

"Well, now we have five thousand dollars. This does us good how?" Jasper wasn't in a very good mood. I had, after all, dragged him around the countryside until this morning. I, however, _was_ a morning person.

"We can go to Denver, for one, and look fairly respectable with some different clothes. Then…" I straightened my shoulders determinedly. "We go visit my friend."

"And how are you going to explain to your friend how you look? She would be almost fifty…" Jasper prodded cautiously.

"I am Alice Brandon's daughter Mary," I said simply. "I'm going to Denver to find work and my mother told me to give her regards to a 'Kitty Wagner.'"

"Wagner? Isn't that the…"

"Mayor of Denver? Yeah, she was his secretary before they 'fell in love,'" I informed Jasper sardonically.

"What? They fell in love. Anything wrong with that?" Jasper looked surprised.

"Who says? I've seen people fall in 'love' only to hate each other within a few years. I have yet to see any 'true love' around here." I felt a hot wave of anger surge through me as I thought of that git who called himself Kitty's husband.

Jasper's expression grew serious, almost as if he sensed my feelings. "What's wrong with her husband?"

"Nothing, as far as I know. He doesn't beat her– anymore." I chuckled darkly. "I fixed that."

"Does Kitty know this?"

"Nope." I started towards the gimpy little train station and Jasper trailed thoughtfully after me. He needed to stop prying and leave me alone. After all, I didn't pry into _his_ past.

I stopped and looked at the train schedule that was posted. "What time is it?" I knew Jasper was right next to me, and I knew he had a watch on.

"Uhm, 9:55."

"Good. A train to Denver's coming at ten." I walked away from the ticket booth to sit on the tracks.

"Alice? Aren't you going to buy us tickets?" Jasper was still standing by the office.

"Not so loud, idiot! Here," I stood up and walked across the tracks. "Come over here." There was a scrawny little tree positioned perfectly at a bend in the tracks, and I moved in its shadow near the trunk. Jasper flitted over.

"Well?" He cocked an eyebrow. As I looked up at him, my plan suddenly seemed stupid and useless. I looked at my feet and muttered out my proposed cheap way to travel.

"We simply hitch a ride in between two of the cars. We can't buy tickets anyway, because I was looking at the coal trains' schedule." I grinned a little.

"Wh…at? You, my dear companion, are quite insane." He clapped me on the back. "Fortunately, I am too."

I looked up at his sudden change of mood. He was smiling at me, and it made my stomach flip. Or maybe it was my heart trying to start beating… either way, I ended up in a very uncomfortable position, looking up at him most likely like a fool.

I gained some composure and smiled. "You, though, do not have any voices in your head telling you lies." _"AH! I do not tell lies! Maybe it'd be better if I started saying I was your long dead heart telling your true feelings…"_

"Who says I don't? Maybe its me, but I never thought of myself as lusty or violent." He laughed.

"I never thought of myself as cold and cruel and lusty either– wait." _Had he said lusty? What the–_ "Never mind." I smiled sweetly. _"What? I told you he liked you back." _But its just friendship, I countered silently.

"Yeah, sure." Jasper looked puzzled, but for once he let the sleeping questions lie. "How did we start this conversation?"

"Do we really want to know?"

The low rumble of a train coming nearer and nearer answered my question. "Apparently not," Jasper grinned. I elbowed him and took a step towards the tracks.

Back to business, I looked over my shoulder at Jasper. "Oh, yeah. The train's not going to stop."

"You really _are_ insane."

"Get up here or I'll leave you behind."

I felt a slight breeze near my ear, and the ground was started to shake slightly. Take note that these two occurrences had nothing to do with each other. One was the train, and the other was…

"You wouldn't leave me behind, now would you?" Jasper's pouting voice was slightly above my ear. Maybe a foot or so. Just enough for him to be standing right next to me, while still being behind me. I was suddenly _very_ aware of how close Jasper was. That meant I wasn't paying attention to the train.

It blasted past us, a foot away from my nose. I was _incredibly_ shocked, and jumped a bit. That bit was enough for Jasper to most likely think "Oh, look, Alice's jumping" and grab onto a rail passing by with both hands. Unfortunately, that meant my shoulders kind of got lodged in between his arms and we both were swept onto the speeding train. Suddenly, my idea didn't seem so spectacular.

Note from Grey-Chan. I decided not to end the chapter here, because it would be short. XP

Other–no, I'll be truthful– being swept along in Jasper's arms at probably more than 80 miles an hour was very…exhilarating, to say the least. That doesn't include his furious yells that were practically in my ear about how I should be careful and how, due to my jumpiness, he could've gotten us both accidentally crushed.

I kind of stood there in a daze as the miles passed by. _We could probably run faster than this_, I thought lazily, _but where's the fun in that? Unless he carries me_, my thoughts added selfishly.

I was mostly crushed up against the train car's ladder, with Jasper holding onto it with both of his hands still on either side of me. He had been chattering angrily into my ear for a few miles, but he eventually stopped. I had no idea what he was doing until I felt his chin poke into the top of my head.

I think he was staring at the passing scenery, but I couldn't be sure unless I turned around, and that would require squirming, which meant that there would be _much_ body-to-body brushing going on, and this was close enough, thank-my-Conscience-very-much. _"Its close enough for now, at least."_ I almost agreed with Conscience on that. For now seemed reasonable, because this wasn't so bad. As long as I didn't think about the close-ness.

We spent the better part of an hour and a half like that, I think. It was very, um, calming, and I thought something interesting happened on that trip, even though I couldn't put my finger on it. I didn't mind Jasper's and my closeness, and by the end of that trip I would have most likely turned around, or at least sideways, if I had gathered up the courage to.

Also during that duration, Jasper's arms lost their grip on the ladder and curled themselves around me. I didn't notice this until they left, so to speak. He moved completely away, and towards the edge of the car's ledge.

I felt very exposed for a fraction of a second before I turned and stepped up next to him. He looked over at me, his now-amber eyes practically glowing. Before I knew what I was saying, I smiled shyly and murmured, "Your eyes look a lot prettier that way."

I wish he hadn't heard it. He grinned impishly and looked back out towards the countryside. "The train's going to take a very sharpish bend north towards Nebraska soon," He muttered. He looked back over at me. "To avoid Denver, of course. Now, shall we jump?" He resumed his evil grin and snatched my hand. He practically pulled me over the edge of the train.

I landed on my face in a pile of some weird plant. This plant did not taste very good, and the leaves were kind of spiky and… bad tasting. Jasper's hand had left mine, so I could only assume he had done a nice graceful landing, not even stumbling. It made me slightly unhappy, to say the least.

I picked myself up and spit out the plant. Jasper wasn't around. I looked around cautiously, aware that this was most likely one of his tricks again. I brushed my clothes off for what seemed like the millionth time in the past 24 hours, and set off determinedly into the woods that bordered the tracks. They were plenty roomy, so I had a good view of all sides, including up.

Occasionally I heard a slight rush of air, but that could've been a mouse passing gas for all I could tell. Rustling was coming from all around, ahead of me, behind me, on all sides. That would be because things live in forests, you know?

After a bit of walking it occurred to me that I had no idea where I was going.


	8. Meeting Catherine & Co

Okay, guys. A seven page chapter. Woo. BEcause I couldn't bear to divide it. Oh, yes, and if you hat ewhat happens, I have comments at the end of this to justify my plot. Read them and then send me hate reviews.

I dont own Twilight, New Moon, or Stephenie Meyer's writing skills. TTTT

Luffs! Grey-chan

Chapter 8

It was getting on towards three in the afternoon when I stopped. Even though I had been following a vague path through the trees, I seemed to be going uphill instead of down, and I had a feeling that I should be going downhill. Then again, I had lots of feelings teeming inside my skull, and that was the least of them.

Did Jasper abandon me? Did he really dislike me? I had thought we were getting somewhere emotionally. Maybe I was wrong? I could very well be on all accounts, I reminded myself. He's probably just waiting for me to ask for help. Or he went off hunting. Or he abandoned me all together.

I sat down with a puff of dirt right in the middle of the path. Nonplused, I sat there, thinking hard about what I should do. The most obvious thing to do was to scream out for help, and if Jasper didn't care anymore, at least some hiker might…. some hiker might what? I'm really losing it, I thought foggily. Vampires aren't supposed to fall asleep. Or are they? Maybe I'm 26 years sleep deprived…

The next thing I knew, I was traveling at a very high speed. Floating, to be exact. Or was I floating? There seemed to be something hard that I was resting my head against, and it certainly wasn't me. I pawed weakly at the hard wall-thing with my hand. I got a fistful of something like fabric. It was kind of moving, the wall was. Like…breathing… but it couldn't be Jasper, not at all. He had left to go eat or something. Hadn't he told me something along those lines? That meant it might be another vampire. Maybe this one wouldn't leave me…

_Then again, maybe this one has the ability to make other vampires sleep, and is now taking you very far away to ransom you or something silly like that. _A nasty little voice inside my head muttered darkly. Maybe it was Conscience, my dazed mind thought. It took a bit for the information I had been told by the nasty little voice to seep into my lethargic brain, and a bit more for my brain to process it and send you the proper warning signals to the rest of my body. After it had, though, my eyes snapped open and I became very still.

I had a fistful of a dark red flannel shirt that used to match its owner's eyes. Not anymore, because even if I hadn't suddenly remembered the events of the past day, I would have seen that they were a different color the moment I looked up into Jasper's face. He looked like he was about to laugh, but he was faking worry.

He had stopped in the middle of a crowded street, and there were people gathered around us, all looking worriedly down at me. All of the noise of the cars and people suddenly washed over me, and I moaned, closing my eyes again.

" I think she's fine now, thank you all for your concern," I heard Jasper say to the crowd. I heard them all walk away, muttering to themselves about foolish youngsters going mountain climbing and how it was a good thing that that young man had found that girl.

I composed myself enough to open my eyes again. The first thing out of my mouth was not what I intended. I _intended_ to say, 'what did you do to me and what just happened?' but it came out instead as "What did you tell them?"

"I found you when I was out hiking and thought you had a concussion from falling off of a short, steep hill. I couldn't think of any other excuse for us, being in hiking gear and me carrying you down the street." He grinned and let me down onto my feet. I swayed, slightly dizzy, and grabbed Jasper's arm. He steadied me, putting an arm behind my back.

I soon gained my balance and gave him a glare in which I tried to convey that we _would_ discuss this later, whether I had to beat him or not.

I started down the sidewalk, looking for a post or sign that would say what street this was. Then I could go and buy some new clothes before going to meet Kitty.

Jasper hurried up next to me and laced his fingers through mine. I didn't shake him off, of course not. Just because I didn't know what the hell was going on didn't mean that I was going to be cold. You get what I mean by cold.

I found out that we were on Oakland Avenue, and I took a sharp left turn. We were closer to Kitty's than I expected.

"So," Jasper started conversationally. "I think I'll be explaining this to you in a few hours, correct?"

"Of course," I replied in a similar tone. "I might have to beat you with a stick or something worse if you didn't." I dearly hope no one passing by heard our conversation. They would've been utterly confused and slightly put off. And I always like to make good first impressions.

Slight Time Skip Again

I glanced up at the huge mansion before us. "Yup, this is the place."

"Great." Jasper muttered, and pulled back the knocker and let it swing back to the tremendous manor door with a slight crack. The panel was undamaged, thankfully, and I glared at Jasper, who smiled sheepishly.

I heard a light patter of footsteps coming up to the other side of the door, and saw an eye peer through the peephole. They must've seen Jasper's chest and nothing of me, or maybe the top of my hair, because the eye widened and the feet scurried away, probably to get the 'Mayah', or one of the big butlers with a shotgun.

Soon enough, to my surprise, it sounded like two pairs of tiny feet, one clicking dangerously in high heels, and one in simple maid's slippers came towards the door. Another, different eye appeared in the one-way peephole, and it blinked curiously.

A moment later the door swung open to reveal a maid, dressed in a traditional maid's outfit, collar and all, and a middle-aged woman. The woman was in her early fifties, and still retained the figure of a model. She was 5'5 ¾", as long as she hadn't shrunk in the past 30 years, and was wearing a sleek long black dress that hugged her figure and accentuated her dark eyes. She wore her plain brown hair down and curled, and looked in her twenties instead of fifty-whatever.

She scanned Jasper with a cool, appraising look, and I could've sworn his jaw dropped at least an inch. Mine dropped the slightest bit too, because this did not look anything like the friend I had left thirty years ago. When I had left, her hair had been graying, and she was a mess from Charlie beating her. _This _woman looked like the Kitty I met when I was barely adjusted to my vampiric life.

She turned to me, and our eyes locked. I saw, under all of the pain and age in her eyes, buried under years and years of pampering and manicures, my Kitty. Her eyes were the only things that had not changed. They widened, and she swayed on the spot. She looked at me unsteadily, muttered "Alice," and fainted. Jasper and I caught her just before she hit the floor, and the maid looked at us with wide, scared eyes.

"Wh-who ARE you?!" The maid stuttered, backing away from us. "Why did Mistress faint?"

Jasper and I brought Kitty onto the expensive Oriental rug that covered the entry hall. Jasper stood up, and I kept watch on Kitty. Her eyes fluttered, and she looked up at me for a moment. "Alice?"

"No, Mistress Wagner, I am Alicia Brandon. I am, however, Mary Alice Brandon's daughter." I smiled at her wanly, trying to keep from spilling out the truth to Kitty right there and then. Kitty smiled too, and closed her eyes again.

"You both have the same eyes…" She took in a shallow breath and sat up, rather unregally.

"See? Mistress Wagner is okay already… look, she's sitting up. Now, if you will let us explain why we came to visit, I shall make my formal apologies later for scaring the Mistress." I felt a calm, controlled feeling emanating from Jasper, and I could tell that the girl was becoming infatuated with him. And his gorgeous, blond hair that was now in attractive disarray from him running his hand through it so many times.

As I helped Kitty up, I gave the girl a good strong glare that I hoped would dash her hopes of having Jasper. He was _mine!_ The venom in my thoughts scared me slightly, but I justified it by thinking that Jasper wouldn't like that stupid, young girl anyway.

Kitty smoothed out her dress and I let go of her arm. She thanked me quietly, and went back to her commanding stance from before. "Now, Sarah, go ready some tea for our guests. This is the daughter of a good friend of mine," she gestured to me. "And this, I presume, is her husband." She looked at Jasper and then to Sarah. Sarah looked extremely embarrassed and scurried off down a random hallway. Jasper looked at me strangely, and I shrugged.

Kitty then started toward a different, wider corridor off to the left. "If you will join me for a cup of tea," she smiled. "I would be glad to hear your story, um, Alicia is it? I'm incredibly sorry," she added, "I'm horrible with names."

I smiled back reassuringly. I knew Kitty hated how she could never remember names. "Yes, that's right." I swept forward and latched onto Jasper's arm. "May I introduce my fiancé," I paused, thinking of a quick cover name for Jasper, and he supplied it himself.

"John Whitlock." He grinned at me, seemingly innocent. "Do forgive us for our appearance," he added, "We just got into town and thought we'd best come here first to give you Mary Alice's regards." Kitty seemed to brush her eyes with the back of her hand, and I felt my stomach drop. She hadn't forgotten me.

"Well, then," Kitty composed herself. "If you'll follow me, I'll lead you to the parlor." She started off along the corridor, and Jasper and I followed in step. He adjusted his arm and put his other hand over mine without even looking at me, almost as if it was a habit.

She led us into a room that was on the outside of the building, and two walls that were completely windows. They were the south and east walls, which was fairly smart of the contractor considering the nasty north winds in Colorado. There was a cherry dining table in the middle of the room, with matching chairs that had dark red cushions that looked extremely plushy. The dining set stood out among cream-colored carpet and matching curtains with elaborate red embroidery. There was a pale love seat pushed off into a corner with a silver lamp on a cherry end table next to it, presumably for reading.

The table was not set, but Kitty sat down at it and offered us seats. Jasper pulled out my chair, and I tried to fit the gesture by looking regal. I think it looked like I was in pain, because Jasper sniggered at me as he sat down. I dropped the look immediately and placed my hands hopelessly in my lap.

Kitty suddenly took a huge shuddering breath. Jasper and I both started to get up to help her, but she held a hand out. "Corset," she explained, exhaling. "We're having a great party tonight, and the rest of the house is being decorated, so that explains this room's bareness." she smiled apologetically. "That's also why I'm dressed like this," she gestured at her dress. "But enough about my worries. Tell me about how you two came here."

"Well, we're heading to Cheyenne to see Ja– John's family to arrange the wedding," I made up hurriedly. " Mother said that as long as we were passing through Denver, we should give her regards to an old friend of hers," I smiled acknowledgingly. "She apologizes for not visiting you, as she has been in bad health for several years." Kitty's eyes widened and she nodded understandingly.

"I wouldn't want to put Alice in danger for a selfish reason like that," she started. "Maybe I should go visit her sometime…"

Jasper took over then, as I began to panic slightly. She couldn't visit me, I was right here. "Well, we'll try to give you an address for her place in New York." Kitty paled slightly, but nodded resolutely. Then her eyes lit up as an idea occurred to her.

"How long are you two planning on staying? I'd be happy to make arrangements for you two to stay for as long as you'd like," She nodded generously. "I'd be absolutely thrilled to have you at the party. You both are so attractive and polite!"

Jasper and I exchanged glances. Might as well entertain her and stay for a night, I tried to convey. Jasper looked less thrilled and gave me a pleading look. I looked back at Kitty and saw the desperation in her eyes. She really did miss _me _a lot.

"We were planning on leaving tomorrow morning, and we've already gotten a hotel room, but we'd be thrilled to accept your offer to come to the party." Kitty's eyes lit up and she stood up excitedly just as the maid, Sarah, came into the room bearing a tray of tea.

Sarah paused in the doorway, her eyes darting from Kitty to me to Jasper, and stayed on him; glazing over slightly. Her grip must've loosened on the tray, because before she knew it, the tray had fallen, the china had shattered, and she and the tile hallway floor were spattered with tea. Kitty jumped and whirled around, her cheeks flushing as she took in the sight of the spattered maid.

"We'll have to clean this up," she said matter-of-factly. "Sarah, go get Madame La Claire and fetch some rags." She turned back to us. "I'm incredibly sorry, I can arrange for some more tea to be brought out as soon as possible."

"No, it's perfectly okay, I wasn't that thirsty anyway. We really should excuse ourselves to find something to wear for tonight," I covered up. I don't think either Jasper or I wanted to choke down some tea for Kitty's sake, just to throw it up later.

Sarah had scurried away, and Kitty faced me again. "Unless you have something to wear in mind, Alicia, I insist you have one of my daughter's old dresses. They're simply magnificent, and no one uses them. They've been sitting there for ages." Sarah came scurrying back with a severe-looking older woman and began mopping up the mess of tea, picking out the pieces of broken china.

"And John, I'm sure Norrington could find you something to wear." Jasper and I could only nod as Kitty took control over the situation again.

"If you'll both follow me," Kitty headed out the door and we could do nothing but follow. I latched onto Jasper's arm as we stepped around the frantically cleaning women, and leaned up to whisper in his ear.

"I consider myself fully repaid after this, okay? You won't have to be dragged around anymore after this. I didn't mean for this all to happen," I said apologetically. Why couldn't I just have stayed away from Kitty?

We emerged out into the entry hall again and Kitty called for a certain 'Norrington.' Soon enough, a burly butler that looked to be bodyguard material appeared and waited respectfully as he received his instructions from Kitty.

Jasper's arm had dropped and we were holding hands, his thumb stroking the back of my hand. He hadn't said anything, so I was too busy thinking about what he was thinking to bother listening to Kitty's instructions to the butler.

Soon enough Jasper leaned down and whispered, "Look, it won't be so bad, and it's not your fault for wanting to see your friend. They're just going to take me to find me a suit or something and glamour you up. So I assume I'll see you sometime this evening, okay? It'll all be fine." He dropped my hand and rubbed my back. I sighed and closed my eyes for a bit.

"Try not to eat Norrington, though, okay?" I opened my eyes and glanced up at him.

He chuckled dryly. "I'll try not to. And you keep _yourself_ out of trouble." He bent down and kissed my forehead gently. The unexpected gesture seemed to spark a tiny little fire in the core of my being, warming me from the inside. He looked down at me, his eyes soft, and ruffled my hair with his free hand that wasn't on my back.

Just then I heard Kitty call us and we both looked over at her. "As long as you don't mind, John, Norrington can show you where to find some suitable clothes. Alicia, would you mind coming with me?" We both nodded, and glanced back at each other. The expression in Jasper's eyes seemed to send an electric shock through me, leaving me feeling quite peculiar as he walked away with Norrington.

"He seems like quite a nice young man." Kitty's comment made me jump and look away from Jasper's retreating back. I hadn't realized I was staring. Kitty chuckled. "You really do love each other," she commented. I had never thought of it _that_ way, but…

I walked forward to join Kitty. "He's quite the character, I guess. And the way– " The way his amber eyes looked just then, so full, caring, beautiful… I think I sighed, because Kitty laughed again.

"I'm not laughing at you, it's just so sweet to see two younger people such as yourselves so love-struck."

She put an arm around my shoulder and steered me down another hallway. This one led us to a staircase, which we climbed and got off at the first floor. Down a hallway (again) and after two left turns, we came to an elaborate door. Kitty opened it and we walked into a room completely dedicated to clothes. Incredibly expensive clothes, I might add. _"Wow, I wonder if she's going to let you pick out the dress. You should pick a nice red; it would go with your eyes and hair. Oh, and, have you thought about the fact that loverboy kissed you?"_ Conscience was giving me fashion advice, Jasper kissed me. This was a bit much to take in. That, and all the sparkling clothes.

There was a mirror with lights surrounding it on a makeup desk tucked away in a corner, and Kitty steered me towards them. Then she spun me around, holding me by the shoulders, examining my face and body structure. "Well, I think this rack will fit you." She smiled encouragingly. "I'll let you look over it while I find you some makeup."

I was used to Kitty being kind of pushy without meaning to, so I obediently went over to the rack she pointed to and started looking through all of the shimmering gowns. I really wasn't a dress person, but considering that this was a party, I didn't have much choice. I decided to stick to the long dresses, because at least those covered a good part of me. Some of these were extremely low cut, by fifties standards, and I at least wanted some part of me to not be exposed.

After a half hour of deciding between a dark red strappy dress and a strapless black one, I chose the black. It had a built-in corset, so I was pretty sure it would stay up and on me. It also had a lacy black layer underneath the silky outside, and another underneath that one. The lacy layer was stiffer, so the dress fanned out a bit. At the very top, there was a two or three-inch wide band of white, so the black wouldn't contrast with my extremely pale skin so much.

I took the dress over to Kitty, who had her head buried in a pile of makeup supplies. She smiled broadly when she saw my choice, and told me to try it on. I quickly stripped down to my underwear, and when Kitty saw the state that they were in, she hurried off to get a never-used-before bra and pair of underwear.

After I had gotten the underwear _and _the dress on, I attempted to go to the mirror, but Kitty stopped me. "Not just yet," she chastised. She stood back and looked at me. "Hmm….it's missing something….Oh! I've got just the thing!" She scurried over to a crate tucked into a corner and pulled out a pair of extremely long gloves. When I put them on, they fit perfectly, so I assume they were meant to reach beyond my elbow.

I was then equipped with a choker necklace that had black opals dangling from it, and makeupped. I tried my hardest to be cooperative, but apparently I was too fidgety. I got an occasional rebuke from Kitty, but, after what seemed like more than five hours, I was _finished._ My makeup and everything else.

Kitty stood back and surveyed me with a practiced eye. There was complete silence for a moment, and then she squealed like a little girl and came and hugged me. Shocked, I stayed still. She was incredibly happy, and told me over and over that I looked so incredibly beautiful and… blah blah… John was going to love it… blah blah… Then she let me go and looked at me fondly. "Go look at yourself, Alicia," she said softly. "Maybe then you'll see what I'm saying."

I was suddenly apprehensive, and moved in front of the mirror extremely quickly, to get it over with. I stopped still, forgetting to breathe. The creature staring back at me was the picture of femininity, of beauty. I had large, amber eyes, thanks to the eye makeup, and my hair looked somehow different, though I didn't remember Kitty doing anything to it. The black opal choker guided the eyes past my slightly protruding collarbones and to the dress, which now seemed _extremely_ low. The dress didn't do anything to the shape of my body; the corset inside had seemed like a mold of my body that didn't have to be forced at all. The gloves prevented me from looking too pale, and some blush applied to my cheeks helped as well. All in all, I didn't look like the image I had of myself in my head at all. _This_ was a creature of beauty, too perfect to be real. _I_ was all too human.

"Beautiful.." I whispered, and Kitty grinned.

"See? I told you so."

I turned to Kitty, suddenly missing her companionship. I wanted her to be back as my friend, to come away with me and Jasper. _But then what, _a voice not my conscience asked. _She would grow old and die._

That saddened me enough to stop thinking of taking Kitty away from all of this. I had best just enjoy the time we had left.

I think Kitty must've sensed something, because she suddenly asked, "Want some tea? Oh! You need shoes! No matter," she handed me a pair from a nearby rack. "Those should fit." They were death traps. Basically, half-centimeter-thick straps would crisscross over my foot, and Kitty expected me to keep my balance. That, and a heel that would, if you sharpened it, look exactly like a long black pencil.

But wait– my inner voices cried. I am a vampire with endless beauty and grace! I can do this easily. I slid the shoes on and stood up. It was easy…

I took a step forward and fell flat on my face. Well, I caught myself because of the lightning-fast reflexes and all, but it was still embarrassing. Kitty and Conscience laughed at me. If Jasper had been there, he would've laughed at me too, I expect. Only he would've caught me or something stupid like that, I thought, heat rushing to my cheeks. I didn't blush, that_ was_ physically impossible, but still.

I regained my balance and found that if I walked with a little more "hip action," so to speak, I could keep my balance. I felt incredibly stupid. It really wasn't that much of a change in walking style, even. Don't you get that image of me walking like something resembling a duck! I know you're getting it!

So Kitty and I had tea, laughed, talked, and were, subsequently, bored, waiting for Jasper. I caught a glimpse of that "Sarah" figure, and I do sincerely hope that she got the message that I hated her. It made me feel all tingly inside, knowing I had someone to hate.

Then Jasper…arrived. In a tux. I wasn't sure if I was going to laugh or to faint.

So, hate Alce falling asleep? Here's my answer:

In _Twilight_, Jasper can make Bella feel sleepy. Since he can control the emotions of vampires too, why can't he make them feel tired or sleepyy too? Even if they can't fall asleep technically, that's my justified loophole.

Hope ya keep reading and review. 3

Grey-chan again


	9. What happens in Chapter 9?

Hey guys. I finally fixed the anonymous reviews thing everyone can now review their hearts out. wink wink nudge nudge Sorrys this chapter took me so long...I usually like to stay two chapters ahead, but I'm breaking my rule because chapter 10 is taking forever. Soo, yeah. Enjoy.

Grey-chan

Chapter 9

I was certainly feeling faint and slightly hysterical. Faint, from all the tea that I was about to throw up. Hysterical, because of all the caffeine in the tea that I was going to throw up. Personally, I was in awe of Jasper and would not have normally done either.

He grinned, slightly knowingly, at me, and did a double take. His blond hair was combed just right so as to fall into his eye. It was… he was… so… beautiful. Handsome. Pretty– no, gorgeous. Take your pick of words.

He looked back at me, and his eyes widened slightly, taking in… all there was to see of me. I crossed my arms, slightly self-conscious, and his eyes went back to their hooded slyness. He tiled his head and grinned again, and my heart lurched. Stupid tea, I thought, looking for a scapegoat for my feelings. I would not be an infatuated puppy, damn it!

"Hi…" My voice came out slightly– no, make that incredibly– faint. The butler, who was behind Jasper, glanced over at me, as if he hadn't realized I was there. His eyes were topaz. I had only a moment to stare before Kitty started babbling.

"Oh, dear, you look positively _dashing!_ Well, Shall we eat supper, then? The guests are set to start arriving at seven… oh, what? It's six thirty already!!" Kitty started. "I must go change! Oh dear, um, would you two mind going with Norrington for awhile? I have to get everything ready, and I'm sure he'll give you a tour?"

The butler smiled and nodded mutely, and Kitty scurried off. His head then snapped around to me.

"Is she another? Of course, I had never noticed her eyes…" He seemed to be talking to Jasper, while his eyes bored into me.

"Yes, and, believe it or not, she can talk for herself!" Jasper said with sarcastic enthusiasm. "Fascinating, I know, but really, you should hear her sometimes. One time she actually saved my life! But I know, it must've been an accident, I highly doubt she would be capable of it right now…"

I could see where Jasper was coming from, as I was glaring, open-mouthed at the butler, who was scanning me with his eyes again. "She doesn't look like much…"

"Of all the things!" Jasper and I yelled simultaneously. He was being sarcastically giggly, and I took a step toward the obnoxious brute, Norrington.

"You, my good sir, are mistaken. If you think all women have an inferiority complex equal to that 'Sarah' character's, you are greatly mistaken, and _will _pay once I get out of this dress!"

He leaned over to Jasper. "Is she implying that she is a prostitute?"

Jasper giggled girlishly. Rage built up in my stomach. I took another step forward.

"I think she can hear us, and doesn't like what you're saying…" He said stupidly. Then he sobered up, straightened, and grasped the butler by the shoulder, now speaking in his normal tenor. "Normally, I would let her punch you herself, but I can't let this go on. You, my friend, are incredibly delusional as far as women. Henceforth…" He spun the burly man towards himself, and, lightning-fast, socked him hard in the cheek. "My _fiancée _and I shall escort ourselves, thank you."

He swept forward and took my arm, never stopping until we were far down a random hallway. I had caught a glance over my shoulder of the butler rubbing his cheek, but not, as I had thought he would be, nursing a broken jaw. I didn't think Jasper held back, so why was that man still standing……?

Oh. Everything clicked in my head, and I stopped dead in my tracks. Jasper was yanked back and looked down at me curiously. "He's a vampire, isn't he?" I asked him.

"Who? Oh, that jackass? Yeah," Jasper amended. "He's not been out of the sewers of London for about 150 years, so be patient. He's also slightly infatuated with Kitty, so… be nice." Jasper finished lamely. "Besides, I met this Yankee, before the War, who had an inferiority complex even worse than Sarah's…" Yankee? So how old was Jasper, exactly? _Oh, well, best leave that for later_, my inside voices added, _because now you two are alone… in a completely deserted hallway…_

"Well, thanks anyway. I was afraid I'd have to kill him."

"I almost did myself. Can't have anyone insultin' my lady like that." He had drifted into a prominent Texan accent. "And just so ya know, if anyone does that at the party t'night, I _will_ murder them, 'kay?"

"Yes, sir. Might I add you look particularly _dashing_?" I added in a British accent, to match the Texas emanating from him.

"Why no, m'lady, you haven't." He tilted his face so he had dark shadows around his eyes and grinned at me through his bangs. "Quite the villain, am I not?"

"I prefer villains. They're always less dopey than the hero. The heroes are always valiant, too. And noble. Bleh."

"So, I'm not valiant, or noble, or princely?" He struck a heroic pose.

"I never said no to princely, and I guess defending would be more appropriate than noble, and coveting rather than valiant. In short, you have all the values of a perfect villain."

"So am I a smart evil-doer? Do I recite Eddy Allen Poe and have seven rooms in my castle like in _The Masque of Red Death_?" He swept an invisible cape across his face.

"Uhm….you lost me there." I felt incredibly illiterate now.

He sighed, dropping his charade. "Do you even know how to read, or shall I just assume you're as stupid as that butler guy?"

"Ah! I can too read, I just haven't had the leisure in my 47 years of half-life to read Edwin Albert Pot…. or whoever."

He staggered against the nearest wall, clutching his heart dramatically. "You have broken my evil heart," He cried piteously. "Not knowing my absolute favorite author! It is a spear in my side, oh fair damsel of stupidity!"

"If you don't cut the charade, Prince of pitifulness, I shall have to dump you for a hero or something silly like that." Our flirting was making my ears ring with… adrenaline, or I think that's what you would call it.

"Oh, fair maiden of obtuseness, how could you ever dump such a wonderful, covetous hubby-to-be?"

"Obtuse? Are you calling me fat?"

"Oh, how your obtusity shines in your query!"

"Kicking you is starting to look like my only option at the moment. That, or castrating you."

"Ah, but no substance in the world could cut my–"

"Okay!" I interjected. "I asked for that, I admit. Just shut up, please, before that dolt comes and finds us talking about… obscenities in a hallway."

"Ooh! _Obscenities! _Such a large word for such an illiterate person. I, frankly, am surprised at your alluring scholarliness!"

"I suspect you're making up half of these words, you dolt. So stop before…"

"What?" He stepped forward to challenge me, standing very close, so I could see every detail of the buttons on his suit. I slowly looked up at him.

"Before…uhm…" I'll admit, the adrenaline was gone, and I was left feeling stupider than ever. Then I realized… I wasn't wearing a shirt. I was wearing a low-cut…

"Gack!" I scooted back towards the far wall and crossed my pointer fingers at Jasper.

"What?" He walked forward slowly. He couldn't get near, or else my sanity would die.

"Stay away! No, don't come any closer, pervert!" I hitched up my dress self-consciously. "Really, using your height for a thing like that!"

He looked from my face, to my dress, and back at me. What I was getting at finally dawned on him. "What? That– me– no! I wouldn't do anything like that!" He was staring at me like I was mad. "How insane and perverted do you think I am! I would never, _never,_ you hear me? I don't think of you… I wouldn't _do_ something like look…" He crossed his arms and turned away, clearly furious and embarrassed that I even considered the possibility that he was looking down my dress.

Well, too bad for him, I had. But now he looked so sad and … forlorn and… angsty. I stepped back forward. "Look, I didn't mean it, I'm sorry I leapt to conclusions…"

He glanced darkly over his shoulder at me. "Well, you did."

"Is it my fault that I'm guarded? No! But if it helps, I am sorry."

He looked back at the wall. "I don't believe you."

I stepped up next to him and wrapped him in a tight hug. Rubbing my nose in his suit, I asked, "You believe me now?"

Jasper groaned and turned around, burying his face in my hair. Not expecting this, I contemplated flailing, but changed my mind quickly enough.

He sighed into my hair, and then inhaled deeply. "Apology… accepted. Now, shall we both stop rubbing our noses in things…" He lifted his head up and pried my arms off of his waist. He then spun me out (so I was facing the same way as him) and straightened his jacked and my hair. "There. All respectable now, aren't we?"

Stunned by his sudden changes of emotion, I didn't say anything. _From almost…oh, it doesn't matter_, I assured myself. _You're just the one that's changing emotions quickly._ A small voice in the back of my head, not Conscience I might add, protested and said that I had been constant the whole time through, and that Jasper was the one holding back. I ignored it.

My interest and curiosity drained away unnaturally quickly. I let him pull me along, walking mechanically in my rapidly clicking heels.

Soon enough we were back in the now deserted entrance hall. Jasper took a sharp left and was halfway down the larger corridor before we were stopped by a voice calling out behind us.

We turned, and saw a middle aged woman in a violently purple dress waving excitedly at us. She scurried up to us, followed by a portly man in a tuxedo who appeared to be her husband by the way he lumbered after her, clutching his handkerchief.

"You're here for Catherine's party?" She sighed gustily and looked around. I couldn't help but stare at the flamboyant woman. Not only were the sequins on her dress starting to hurt my eyes, but also I could not, for the life of me, figure out how the dress stayed up on the thin lady. "I always love visiting the Wagner's… oh! Excuse my horrid manners! My name is Veronica Spelts, and this," She gestured a sequined sleeve at the puffing man next to her, "…is my husband Bernard. He started the factory down at Littleton, you know. I always said I married a right smart entrepreneur."

Mrs. Spelts looked at us, really looked at us, for the first time then, her violet-hooded eyes widening at our pale… shininess. "And who might you be…" She asked softly, almost to herself.

I looked up at Jasper, who raised his eyebrows as if to say, 'your turn now. You got me into this.' I sighed and looked back at Mrs. Spelts. "My name is Alicia, and this is my fiancé, John Whitlock."

She nodded knowingly and turned to her husband excitedly. "Did you hear that Bernard? These two are due to be married! Isn't that delightful!" She turned back to us as her husband grunted acknowlegingly. "And how did you some to know Catherine?"

"Oh, she's a family friend." I waved it off with my hand, as rich ladies are wont to do. "Well, Mz. Spelts, I hope you will excuse us. We must be getting to–um, well at least I must– be getting to the lavatory." I felt the tea roar up in my stomach, consenting to my statement.

"Oh, well, dear, we will be seeing you at the party then."

"Yes, indeed. Hey, Jas–ohn, I seem to have forgotten where the lavatory–?"

"Ah, right. This way!" Jasper pulled me hurriedly away, almost sprinting, before Veronica Spelts could get another word out. He took a sharp left, then a right, and skidded to a stop outside a small, white door. "In here!" He hurriedly whipped open the door, stuffed me in, and dove after me, slamming the door.

"You didn't like that lady much, did you?" I was picking myself off of a white tile floor, trying to keep my dress clean.

"Oh, how could you tell?" Jasper was already up and had turned on the light. We were in a pure white bathroom, and everything had the color of a newly bleached cotton shirt. Jasper and I contrasted greatly with the white tiled walls. This was made more apparent by the full mirror covering one wall of the enormous bathroom.

My stomach lurched, and I immediately made my way over to the toilet. I felt kind of bad, ruining the bleached porcelain bottom, but the tea came up, out, and was down the toilet.

"Tea, eh?" Jasper was standing behind me, dubiously eyeing the contents of the toilet. He reached an arm out and flushed it down before I could get another word out, and helped me up. Not that I needed helping… much. I was in heels, remember!

I brushed him off and turned to examine myself in the mirror. I ran my fingers through my hair, attempting to fix a bit of the damage done to it. I worsened it, if anything, and turned back to find Jasper silently laughing at me.

"What?" I demanded harshly.

"You were trying to act like an aristocrat back there. It was funny."

"Aristo-what? Oh, _nevermind!_" I said angrily at the look of indignation on his face. "It probably means blathering idiot or something like that."

"Well, if you consider rich, cultured people blathering idiots, which I do."

–_Jasper was shouting at something from the far side of a clearing, his eyes full of pain. The scene widened, and I could see a slim figure in the shadow of a tree with a glint of white catching the moonlight–_ I started. I had managed to go for almost a whole day without a vision. _You had been doing so well!_ Conscience complained to me.

Jasper was looking at me strangely, and I looked steadily back at him. Suddenly awareness dawned in his eyes and he nodded slightly.

I didn't say anything, so we just stood there awkwardly for a moment before Jasper turned to the mirror, straightening his suit jacket.

I clicked over to the sink, staring down at the drain for a moment, trying to decipher the choice that led to my vision. I finally decided it couldn't have been any of mine, and walked over to the door and opened it the tiniest crack. After thoroughly assuring myself that neither Veronica nor one of her brightly-colored friends was around, I swung the door open and stepped out, reaching back to yank Jasper along next to me.


	10. I KNOW YOU'VE BEEN WAITING FOR IT!

**I'll make this short, so you can hurry up and read it.**

**If anyone (EXCEPT THOSE OF YOU WHO I KNOW IN REAL LIFE!) can guess what movie mainly inspired my choices of music and general crackiness of this chapter, I'll let you read the next chapter ahead of publishing. Just be sure I can contact yous!**

**I'm replying to all anonymous reviews at the end of chapters now.**

**Grey-chan**

**_Chapter 10_**

The gargantuan ballroom was already filled with people, like bits of colored, glittery paper blowing around in some pattern that I couldn't decipher.

I felt Jasper shift next to me, from his slumping gait of the hallway to the proud stride of an important man. He glanced at me, and then led me, almost automatically, to the center of the room to dance. Several people stopped to stare at us as the small string quintet and a piano struck up a bourée. Kitty had decorated the room with chandeliers and lights aplenty, and I can only imagine that we looked slightly unearthly.

Jasper shifted again to face me, and grinned devilishly. "Ready for your first dance lesson? Don't worry," he added as I gave him a look of panic. "I'm really good."

I rolled my eyes. "I feel so much better…" I said sarcastically. He ignored me, continuing to grin into my eyes, and took up my hand, dropping it lightly on his shoulder. He then positioned his hands accordingly, and my spine crawled. Hand… on… waist… too… much… contact! My insides screamed. I tamped them down with the help of Conscience's comment, _You did spend those two hours on the train in close contact…_

"You've never danced before, have you?" Jasper paused and grinned wider. Maybe it was my tensing under his hand, or maybe it was my expression of blind panic, you never could tell with Jasper.

"N-n-o," I stuttered. I hadn't realized I was that nervous. Oh dear.

"Follow my lead, and just make sure you don't step on me. I have the hard part, anyways." He seemed to preen for a moment, and then suddenly launched into a series of steps that sent us whirling around in circle-ish swoops, so to speak. I don't know if it was a waltz or a tango, but it sure was fast. After tripping a few steps, I composed myself and tried to watch my feet without pointedly staring, and without getting too dizzy. After a few minutes, however, I got the hang of it and looked at Jasper.

He looked down at me fondly. "I see you got it then. So, fun, eh?"

"How do you know how to dance?" I demanded before he could distract me with small talk.

"I have been to a fair number of parties in my time. I could also say something cheesy right now, but I shall now advise myself against it." He cocked his head to the side for a moment, and then nodded to himself. "Mental beating of self completed. Now what were you saying?"

I couldn't help grinning. "Caught sight of Miss Violet, or whoever?"

He peered over my shoulder. "Missus Victoria Spelts –excuse me, that would be Missus Veronica Spelts– is currently lurking on the sidelines… I don't think her husband is up to dancing…"

We turned, and I saw a blur of purple near the buffet-snack-whatever table. We then promptly whisked away to the other side of the room. "How in the hell can you see anything?" I inquired rudely.

"It, like dancing, requires practice…" Jasper wandered off into a train of thought, most likely a train that was heading off of a cliff.

_Speaking of cliffs, _Conscience added, _The music's changing, dearest._ Startled, I listened, and the musicians were definitely coming to a stop. I purposefully mis-stepped, digging my heel into Jasper's toe. His eyes snapped down sharply, and he quirked an eyebrow. I nodded towards the musicians and tried to look helpless. He grinned devilishly, and, still in pace with the music let go of my waist, slipping out of my grip.

I was then twirled around absurdly, finally falling controlledly into Jaspers arms. My insides burned with the closeness, and everything seemed over bright. Jasper's arm left a mark of heat across my bad, even though it was cold. "Aww, look, they're applauding…" He muttered slyly.

Not wanting to lose my mind, I said the third or fourth thing that came into my head. "I hope you can fit out the door tonight, _honey_, else you might bump your gigantic head." I snapped sarcastically. "Wouldn't want to get stuck in here with old Veronica…" I finished, as he pulled me up and we strode over to the side so as not to get run over.

"Oh, that was simply delightful! Wherever did you two learn to dance like that?" Speak of the Devil and she shall appear. Jasper looked at me, well, actually it was more of a glare, and veered towards the buffet-snack-whatever table, leaving me to talk to the atrocious Missus Spelts. "Did you two realize that no one else danced for that whole song, they were so impressed? My, I've never seen anyone dance like that in my whole life!"

Amazing how even though a person is complimenting you; they still annoy the hell out of you. "Oh, no, thank you Miss Spelts…now I really must catch up to…"

I tried to wander off, but she followed, prattling ceaselessly. "Oh, yes, you willbe the talk of Denver for _days!_ You could stay with me and Bernard, you know, if you're staying for a few days…"

"No, no Missus Spelts, we must move on to meet Ja-ohn's family…" I stuttered, distracted, thinking of ways to get rid of her. Most of them were violent, just to say.

"Where are you from, anyway? What's your family into?"

"Manchester…" I muttered the first city that came into my mind. Too late, I remembered our cover story.

"Oh! New York? I know the most delightful lady…"

"No, no, New…" I stopped, trying to remember where 'Alicia Brandon' was from. "New… Georgia." Damnit.

"Oh, really? Is that one of those islands down near Florida? It must be so delightful there!"

We were almost at the table…almost…so…close… I reached out for Jasper's arm…

Veronica snatched my arm and wheeled me around. "Oh, look! There are the rest of them! Dixie, Matilda, Mary! How delightful to see you! You must meet this young lady!" She waved hyperly and nearly sprinted over to them, dragging me along. I looked back at Jasper longingly, but he seemed engaged in an eloquent debate with a tall young man who looked like a politician.

As I was dragged closer to the group, I saw it actually consisted of twenty or so ladies of various ages, ranging from nineteen or so to nearly eighty years old. The younger ladies were all in shocking colors like electric yellow, lime green, and magenta, and their dresses showed too much skin for my vampiric tastes._ Or just enough,_ Conscience added. _They do look like they have lots of strong blood in them…_ I tamped Conscience down. It was very bloodthirsty when it wanted to be. Best keep Jasper away from them, another voice added, because if you're tempted to eat them, then he will be on them in minutes.

I refused to acknowledge the fact that I was simply jealous and wanted Jasper for myself.

The ladies prattled and ooh-ed and aah-ed appropriately at Victoria's descriptions, and they gossiped and talked until my head spun. I was silent, a shadow at the edge of the colorful group.

Eventually their talk turned back to me, and they all insisted that Jasper, or John I guess, dance again so they could all see us. This gave me a chance to escape, but noo, these ladies insisted that they come over with me so they could meet 'John'.

I practically ran over to the buffet-snack-whatever table and stopped just short of Jasper, who was still debating heatedly with the politician, only a crowd of men had gathered around the two. All of the women dispersed into the crowd, looping their arms through their partners'. The only two left standing around were me, and a lady of about twenty-three or so, dressed in a lime-green dress that was strapless, and barely went past her knees. She wore matching eye shadow, but it didn't look bad on her, like it did on Veronica Spelts. She smiled at me, and indicated Jasper.

"Is he your fiancé?"

I smiled acknowledgingly. "Is the other your partner?"

"Husband," she corrected. "It was an arranged marriage, very odd for these times. Matthew isn't mean, but there's nothing more than friendship between us."

I nodded sympathetically, trying to act like I understood. "Yes, John and I were kind of stuck together too." I do dearly hope he likes me more than as a friend, but I won't mention that.

They seemed to have stopped, and judging by the way that Jasper held his head high, and the way the other man drooped, Jasper had won.

The girl turned to me. "Oh yes, my name is Adrianna. Adrianna Harold." She then glided over to um, Nathaniel was it, and looped her arm through his, flashing me a smile before engaging her husband in conversation, most likely healing his bruised ego.

I stared after them, so, before I knew it, Jasper was at my shoulder. I looked up at him. "What were you arguing about? And with a politician no less? I thought you knew better than to show off your immaculate vocabulary."

"Oh-ho! Long words! I must be rubbing off on you. But no talk of debates at such a fine party such as this." He swept off an imaginary top hat. "I do believe, mademoiselle, that we have another dance ahead of us, at the insistence of our good Missus Spelts." His smiled flickered at bit, as he looked around in mid-bow. "It best be only one, of I admit my arsenal of dances is running low," he continued in an undertone.

"Well, best be getting to it, shall we?" I hastily agreed as a crowd of ladies stalked closer to us.

Jasper stalled ever so slightly, trying to annoy me. "Well, then, I best be getting over to that annoying quintet of people who call themselves string players." To most likely tell them how to play one of the only dances he knew how to play.

Jasper soon returned, and seized my hand. "May I have this dance?" He asked formally.

"Of course." I tried to sound proper and keep the exasperation out of my voice. I don't think I did very well, but whatever.

The people had cleared the floor after the orchestra ended the other song rather rudely and abruptly, and Jasper began to pull me out onto the floor again. He pulled, because I suddenly had become nervous again and had lost all of the little confidence I had gained before. I was positively shaking.

The bass and piano started the song, playing an indistinct few plucked notes that, apparently, were supposed to give me time to strike and elegant pose or something like that. I didn't, and Jasper looked at me crossways, doing a very tiny exasperated roll of his eyes.

It was a tango for sure this time. The start was much more sudden, and one of the violins immediately crawled high up on the scale, drawing out a complicated melody.

Jasper had locked eyes with me, and I didn't look down, even though we were starting, stopping, twisting, and whirling in a very complicated way. I kept up very well, I am proud to say; and I didn't look down once. _I couldn't._ The rest of the world was a blur of color in my peripheral vision, even when we paused on the staccato fermatas.

The dance reached up to what sounded like the most exciting part, and I gritted my teeth and complained silently to Jasper:

"It sounds like the violinist is having a seizure. Are they, or am I just delusional?"

"Oh, no, that's supposed to be music. I, personally, find a seizure an accurate description." Stop, pose. Continue slinking.

"Where did you learn to dance?"

"Texas. Can't you tell that I grew up there, or am I _not_ making it blatantly obvious?"

"So…do they teach all little children in Texas to dance, or am I missing something again?" Stop, twirl, pose, slink.

"Of course they did, back in my day."

"When exactly was that again?"

Beeeeeeeeennnnnnnnnnnndddddddddd…

Jasper's mutter was lost to me. I sighed in exasperation and gave up on conversation.

The music kept up its incessant, loud peak, even though Jasper shifted his grip once again. Considering the fact that he was going to end this dance exactly like the other one –very unclassy, I might add– I improvised a bit. The violin was obviously coming to a close as he twirled me out and around, my dress fanning out very prettily. I came back in controlledly, and I shifted my weight just right so as to make me fall closer to the ground. It made Jasper bend artfully instead of him staying straight as a post. (That annoyed me)

Henceforth, as the music suddenly slammed off, we were face-to-face, two inches apart and nearly falling down. Jasper was really holding me up this time, and my legs were in an artful pose…. somewhere. I had kind of lost track of them. Jasper appeared to be having trouble, judging by the tiny slips of his face and mouth. I grinned showily and cocked my eyebrows. "I think I got the hang of it," I whispered happily.

Then a roar of applause started up. I hadn't realized there were that many people there! Jasper took that as a chance to shift up before we fell, and I heard his spine pop as he got up. Mine had cracked on impact with his arm, so I was fairly limber.

He then snatched my hand and bowed, not allowing me to do much other than scramble out a pitiful half-curtsy thing. We then walked out of the ring that had formed, my arm looped through Jasper's. The orchestra looked exhausted, and got up to go get refreshments. A trumpet player promptly took their place, along with a fresh pianist, and they started on a jazz number that was different enough to get people dancing.

As we tried to disappear quietly into the shadows, still not saying anything to each other, Kitty ran up to us, along with Mr. Wagner.

I didn't particularly want to stop, but Jasper did, and I was yanked unceremoniously back to stand next to him as Kitty spouted praise. "That was certainly the height of this party! How_ever _did you two learn to dance like that?"

"Well, tangos aren't that hard once you get the rhythm down," I started, slightly caught up in her enthusiasm.

"No, no! I can dance a tango, I think everyone should be able to; it's the question of how you two learned to dance like you are one person, coordinating everything!"

"Practice, milady, practice." Jasper replied, suddenly seeming like he wanted to go. He had tensed, and I realized nearly too late that Jasper was probably wanting to rip the head off of every human being in this house.

"Oh, dear, excuse me, Miss Catherine, but we must be going… I have forgotten to take my medication." I made a big show of fluttering my eyelids, breathing deeply, and leaning heavily on Jasper.

Kitty's eyes widened, and she looked slightly nervous. I waved a hand absentmindedly, explaining: "I am prone to fainting spells. In the excitement today, I have forgotten to take my pills…" I rolled my eyes slightly and stumbled up against Jasper, clutching his arm and hoping that I wasn't overplaying it.

"Yes," Jasper jumped to the story. "She suffers from narcolepsy, and I usually remind her to take her medication." He frowned down at me concernedly. "It's genetic, and there is no cure except to take these pills for the rest of her life. I try to look after her," He added fondly, "…but today we've both been irresponsible and forgotten them at the apartment. So, if we may excuse ourselves?"

Kitty nodded dumbly. "I do hope you feel better, honey, and don't worry, you can keep the clothes. They don't fit either of us anymore." She smiled at her husband and then patted my arm. "Oh, dear, you're freezing cold! Yes, you two had best be going…" She said worriedly to Jasper. "Thank you for visiting, though."

Jasper nodded and began to walk out, dragging me along. Kitty started to say something, but he stopped her. "Oh, thank you, we can find our own way out Miss Catherine."

As soon as we were out of Kitty's sight, I straightened and took up a business-like tone. "Okay, look. We need clothes, and I need a wash, but for now, I'm not going to care, alright?"

Jasper gave me a strange look.

I sighed, exasperated. "You. Need. Food. I. Need. Air."

"But we have plenty of air in a stor–"

"You know what I mean," I growled, and stalked off into the woods surrounding the house. Well, now that I think about it, it was more like a lodge. Since it had woods around it, you know?

I heard Jasper follow, and before I knew it, I had nearly fallen over a stone bench. Yes, a stone bench placed randomly in the middle of a forest. I sense a cliché, don't you?

Well, right then I didn't realize it, so I simply plopped myself down on it, to look like I had meant to almost run into it, to save myself from being laughed at. I knew Jasper would, given the chance.

Cackle he did, as soon as he sat down next to me. "Isn't this a walking cliché?"

"It's not walking. As a matter of fact, I don't see anything walking except that squirrel over there." I gestured with a nod of my head at the passing rodent.

"Would you prefer I said sitting?"

"Yes."

"Well…too bad."

I sighed dejectedly, and stared off into the distance. Not that there was much distance, even for my vampire eyes, because there were too many flipping trees in the way.

I heard an exasperated sigh next to me, and then more silence. For about twenty minutes, actually. Right about then I was in the middle of a debate with myself about the color of a particular blade of grass, and I was winning. I felt something light touch my cheek for the briefest moment, and immediately looked up. Up, as in, _straight _up, to look for the offending three that had dropped a leaf on me. It _was_ autumn.

I could've sworn that I _felt_ Jasper roll his eyes. I certainly heard him sigh and say: "Really, don't put me through _this!"_ under his breath.

I turned to him and cocked an eyebrow. He ducked his head, appearing to be composing his thoughts. I did a mental shrug, and then paused, looking at Jasper. The way the moonlight hit his hair like that… he had a halo…

He looked up through his hair, and, seeing my expression, (probably of blank wonder) relaxed visibly.

"Well, now that that's cleared up…" He started, and I cocked my head to the side questioningly. What was he talking about?

"What?"

He rolled his eyes. "Do you really want me to spell it out for you?"

I looked him in the eyes. They were laughing at me. I tilted my chin up proudly. "Yes, as a matter of fact. You haven't spelled a single thing for me."

"Oh, dear, what _ever_ shall we do? Oh, right, I remember!" Jasper said happily.

He then leaned forward and kissed me. Just like that. Can't you see the fireworks going off in the background? They were going off in my head, and making spots on my eyes. I fixed the problem by closing them and tilting my head away, while sliding closer to Jasper to make up for it.

"That…was…" I couldn't exactly find words. I wanted to simultaneously punch and hug Jasper. THAT would have been awkward… but I could've sworn my heart was beating, and my face felt…warm.

"Exhilarating? Long in coming? Cliché?"

"All of that, of course. I think we should spell more often."

"Excuse me while I gag on that cheesy line." Jasper leaned away from me and made an awful retching sound, scaring away all wildlife in the vicinity.

"Well, then. My head and long-dead heart are having a heyday. Care to move on to another topic?" Or not. I wouldn't mind.

"Well, you have summed up my feelings accordingly. Now… lets see…" Jasper counted off on his fingers. "Stop being carnivorous, check. Fix Alice, much more than check. _Kiss _Alice, check. Yes, my list is finished. Care to add anything more?" He smiled wickedly.

I stared at him. Well, up at him. He was kind of above me now. Since 'me leaning on his shoulder + Jasper's height looking up '

My long quest, okay not _that_ long, was finally –mostly– complete, and I didn't even have to ask! But really, putting kissing me on a list of things to do after he's only known me for a day? _But Alice, you were too–_ Note to self: do not EVER open Conscience's door again.

Well, I was flattered and happy, but that didn't change the situation; I got to ask Jasper about:

his past

well, everything that sprouted out of that

how he found me after I fell asleep

My insides twisted with, happiness, I guess, and I joyfully concluded that this was the best twenty-four hour period I'd ever had in my 47 years of existence.

"Well, no, but you do have a lot to answer for." I reached down, took his hand, and laced my fingers through his. "Please?"

"Milady, you are abusing your power over me."

"As if you couldn't abuse it right back."

"Good point. But, I did promise, didn't I? Well, here it goes…"

**MUAHAHAHA! I can feel you getting anrgy at me for my cliffies, now.**

**meanwhile,**

**Ange de l'eau: Thanks for reviewing!**

**italiangirl: how does "addomesticando il credulone di sangue" sound? I don't know any Italian; I want it to say "taming the blood sucker" thats all...;**

**Don't worry all; I'll post the next one in a couple of days! ;**

**Grey-chan**


	11. History Lesson, pupils

**This one's fairly short, considering how long chapter 10 was. This actually took about 20 minute's worth of research on Wikipedia, so, its as true as I can make it. (hehe) Oh, and the winner of the competition is Nabeko-chan, I guess. Since she is the only one that mentioned it at all...rolls eyes **

**Yeah, I'll be changing the name of the story to more grammatically correct italian after I post this chapter, but don't worry, the name'll still be close. Anywayz, thanks itailangirl.**

**If all goes well, next chapter will be up by wednesday. And.. yeah. think that's it. Have a nice week.**

**Grey-chan**

Chapter 11

Jasper shifted, putting his arm around me. "Well, for starters, I was born in 1843, in Texas. Don't ask me where, 'cause I don't remember much of my human life." I resisted the urge to comment then; Jasper was over a hundred years old.

"My parents were wealthy; I know that much because I learned to dance and all that in school, and the wealthy people did that. Two years after I was born, Texas became a state, and I would assume that changed things a bit.

"The most vivid thing I remember was the army; I joined it when I was seventeen, I think. I was a Major in the Confederate Army after a few months.

"Robert E. Lee was my idol. He was so intelligent, and the fact that he was fighting for something he didn't care for inspired me to do my best.

"Then came September 17, 1862. The Battle of Sharpsburg. The bloodiest battle the War saw." He paused, and took a deep breath.

"I don't think I'll ever forget that day. I was in the cornfield; it was awful. You see, both sides had packed the cannons with– well, it was a can, filled with bullets. When it was shot out– " He stopped, and I thought I felt him shaking. "Body parts were everywhere. When I looked at the faces of dying men, I almost felt like I was dying myself, as if it was me who was bleeding to death because my arm was blasted off, not them. Everyone was so caked with blood that you couldn't tell who was Union, and who was Confederate. I lost all of my men, and most of my superior officers. I was lucky to get out of there with my life, let alone my limbs.

"I ran away from the army then; I made my way up North. I had traded for some new clothes with some random Mountain Man I came across; it was better to be dressed in furs than in a Confederate uniform." He seemed slightly relaxed now, even though he was still tense.

"I worked odd jobs for the next year, using my money to buy books; then, one night I met a woman named Maria.

"She offered me wonders I could never imagine, and all the time in the universe to study, and _live_. I, of course, followed her out into the streets of New York. Then, she bit me, and ran away before she would lose her control and finish me off.

"After three days of agonizing pain, I was awake, and there was still no sign of Maria. A poor beggar, seeing that I was a living person, came over to ask me if I was okay. All I saw of him was a vessel of blood. He was lying on the pavement, shriveled and lifeless, before I knew what had happened.

"Soon enough, Maria came back, with five other vampires. She showed me the ropes, and soon I was one of their band, traveling all over creation, wreaking havoc as we went. We eventually went back down to Texas after a few decades, and I was hit with a severe case of déjà vu. I then realized that I was a monster, and I had to find something better.

"But, soon after I left them, I found that I couldn't release myself from my addiction to humans; I saw no alternative. I went back, and they welcomed me with open arms. I soon began questioning them about their histories, and if they had met any vampires that had been stationary, or… cleaner. They laughed at me, and called me names. Not even Maria defended me, and I eventually learned not to say anything, or speak my thoughts, when I was around them. Which was basically all the time."

"I could convince them to accept me; and I could cool their tempers when they became angry at how pacific I was, and my passiveness when faced with a kill. But one day I slipped up, and they convinced Maria to kick me out. She had been attracted to me at the start, but when I expressed no interest, she stopped caring. So, she threw me out with a threat of death if I returned to them.

"That was in the year 1900. With the new century, I convinced myself that I would find a better way to live. I left, and kept to the wilds. I still stopped in the towns, and picked only the filthiest, most hopeless people to kill. It didn't help my conscience, but again, I still saw no alternative. I met several other vampires on my journeys, but all of them were– what was that you called them the other day? Ah, yes– carnivores. They laughed at me too, and all I did was lower my head and move on. I also stole books from libraries, only to leave them in random places around the town. I couldn't help it; I love to read.

"So here I am. That's it. Not much of a story, I admit. The main character isn't very strong, and he really should be the bad guy, because he's so stupid and weak." Jasper sounded tired and weak, and I squeezed his hand. My head was reeling with his story, and I couldn't help but feel empathetic to his troubles.

"You've… you've been through a lot." I looked up at him, and he sighed. "No, I mean it, I wouldn't blame you if you hated the world."

"But, you see, I can't. Not as long as I feel what the world feels." I paused at his comment.

"What?"

He looked down puzzledly. "Didn't I tell you my power? No? Oh, I can sense people's emotions. Henceforth, I know how sorry you're feeling right now, and I can tell you, I'm perfectly at peace with myself." I stared at him, and suddenly, everything made sense. Him hugging me in the tree, him yelling at me to stop in the cave, and all the other little instances in the past day that clearly pointed to Jasper's power.

"Well, I'm as peaceful as I've been in the past twenty-four hours."

"Wha..?"

"Ever since I met you, and you saved my life twice, I have been overcome with the urge to impress you. Maybe its my masculine genes finally appearing. How should I know?" He lifted his hand and tentatively stroked my cheek.

"It was quite funny, tormenting you, though."

I suddenly realized that he had known what I had been feeling all along, and I ducked my head. I would've blushed, if I had had any blood in my system that was mine.

"Oh, don't worry, I didn't pry. I didn't know for sure that you even liked me until we fell out of that tree. I don't make a habit of spying into people's feelings…regularly. It was only when you had strong surges, like when you yelled at me in the cave, and when you broke down in the tree, that I knew for sure what you were feeling."

"Wait… what about the forest thing? Where were you?!" I suddenly remembered the odd experience of the afternoon.

"Oh, that," Jasper commented ashamedly. "I was following you the whole time, waiting for you to call out. After you sat down, I decided to test if I could do to vampires what I could do to people. I can make them feel sleepy, and they fall asleep just," He snapped his fingers. "…like that. Apparently, I can. But don't worry, I won't do _anything_ to you unless you specifically ask from now on."

"I….wow. I need time to think." My brain felt overloaded from the past twenty minutes. My brain scuttled from one topic to the next, from love to sleep to Jasper and back again. Completely overwhelmed, I leaned my head on Jasper's chest. I felt his arm wrap tighter around me, and for the first time in forty-seven years, I felt safe.

We spent the rest of the night like that, both of us lost in our own thoughts.

**So there. And.. lets see...opens new tab **  
**Elby-shay, I'm touched you actually wasted your time on a review. It makes me glow inside. shine **

**And... moop. I'm off to see the Wizard! (aka. The compy upstairs)**  
** Grey-chan**

**P.S. OMG! Like, 10 reviews in about two chapters! I love you all! hug **


	12. Useless fluff

**Quite an odd chapter, this one. I'm not sure if I like it or not. This one's prone to change. But, most likely it won't because I'm laaazy. Unless Nabeko-chan and Leera complain alot.**

**An-y-way, yeah. Have fun. And make sure you know it's shampoo.**

**Grey-chan**

Chapter 12

The next day dawned annoyingly bright and unnecessarily sunny. Soon after the sun was fully up, I took it upon myself to move. It was a hard task that required several minutes of persuasion from myself.

Soon enough, though, I had pried Jasper's arms off of me, and stood up. "Well, now, sir, wakey wakey. 'Tis time to find clothes, small animals to eat, and shampoo. Not necessarily in that order, of course." I stretched, feeling my muscle pull and twist and… aaaaaaah. It felt so _good._

I heard Jasper's jaw snap as he yawned and replied: "Milady, stop stretching, else I come over there," 'there' being two feet away from him, "…and do something I may regret later. Now, lets see… I could just nip over to a general store and get what we need, while you find a lake or something where there will be lots of tasty _large_ animals, and you can wash your hair like the obsessive you are."

About halway through his speech, I stifled my protests, and sighed in agreement. " Sounds... okay I guess. How exactly will you find me by my precious lake again?"

"Everything has a scent, dawling." He drawled the last word, immediately recapturing my full attention. He had stood up and already shifted in the general direction of Denver.

"Well, then," I huffed, and then remembered a list I had composed sometime in the course of the night. "All I need is shoes. High top Chuck-Taylor's would be fine. Maybe a light-colored shawl or something, too. Lets see, that, and shampoo, and whatever else you may think of."

Jasper struck a pose and ran his hand slowly through his hair. "Maybe I should get myself some 'gel. Be stylish, for once." He dropped the pose after a moment of thought, however, and his hair flopped back into his face. "Nah, I never did like grease. Oh well, I guess I might try it…" He started off into the woods. I paused, knowing I was forgetting something.

"Oh…um…the money! Idiot, get back here!" He flicked back. "You need to _buy _that stuff, you know…" I started, searching my person for my five grand.

Then I remembered. It was in my jeans pocket, which meant it was in Kitty's house. Oh eff…

"Look, I have this," Jasper pulled a wallet out of his pocket. "And it has more than enough. I lifted it last night, from that prig, Matthew or whoever. Don't worry," He added insincerely, "The Wagner's will find you five grand more than enough retribution for our early departure."

He then, without another word, ran off into the forest. Thinking about the smell of water, I turned around slowly, drawing in a deep breath. There…

I ran through the trees, and soon enough I was in a clearing. It had a tiny little pond-puddle-like-thing, but that puddle was a spring, and it was clean. Not necessarily crystal clear, but hey, it wasn't murky. I smelled several deer and cougar in the area, the former very far away from the latter, and possibly bear. Perfect.

Soon enough, Jasper came back, clutching a paper bag in one hand. He had taken off his suit jacket, but nothing other than that had changed about his clothing than his shoes. He had changed his shoes to more comfortable Chucks, only his were very dark blue. He stopped next to me, lifted a very heavy book out of the bag, and silently handed the rest of it to me. Inside was a pair of black high-tops, just as I asked, and a poodle skirt and shawl to boot. I immediately threw the poodle skirt out, horrified, but went back to retrieve a pair of socks hidden inside. Jasper grinned evilly, and I gave him an icy glare.

"This is horrible looking," I stated.

"Yes, but, I thought you might want to look part of the era. Apparently you don– what the heck are you doing?!" I had started to tear a foot of fabric off of my dress, making it more comfortable and roomier. I paused, looked at him, shrugged, and finished my tear before standing up.

"It was getting constricting." I explained.

"That's no reason to ruin– do you have any idea how much that– oh, nevermind!" He finished frustratedly.

I flitted over to the poodle skirt and, balling it up with the ripped fabric from my dress, threw them over next to the bag. The bag. I ran over to it, snatching out my shoes and the shampoo.

I laced up the Chucks, twirled around a bit, and then grabbed the shampoo bottle. It was glass. Muh.

"Well… then… I'll be getting to killing large animals now… buh-bye." Jasper ran off, no longer coherent.

Alone, I paused for a moment, before I raced over to the spring, bending over and dunking my head in without another thought. I hadn't washed my hair in… a very long time.

The water was cold, and I flipped my hair out, grabbing the bottle and unscrewing the lid. It oozed onto my other hand, syrupy. It certainly didn't seem like shampoo. Maybe it's gel, and Jasper's just stupid like that, I pondered, before the rolling smell of the open bottle hit me. It smelled familiar, but not exactly pleasant. It smelled faintly of …apples.

With a mental shrug, I rubbed it into my hair. I felt no suds or bubbles under my fingers, or on my scalp, so my suspicions of gel were confirmed. Stupid Jasper.

I dunked my head in the water again, savoring the clean feeling. As soon as I felt the last of the syrup detach itself from my hair, I pulled out, shaking my head and spraying water everywhere.

I heard a startled yelp, and turned around to find Jasper right behind me, looking very, very…wet. What he was doing behind me, I have no idea. Apparently he was back from hunting. It must have not been very challenging. Either that, or he didn't need that much blood to keep him full. He had eaten the day before, after all.

Jasper seemed to pause in his movement as I got up, obviously smelling the air. Then, before I could do anything, he had seized me in a tight hug and had buried his nose in my hair. I flailed, but he paid no attention.

"You… your _hair_… smells…intoxicating."

I protested very loudly into his chest until he let me have some air. I immediately relaxed, gasping. "What…exactly…was…that…hair…stuff?"

"Oh," Rub, rub. "It was a brightly colored bottle with some form of syrup in it." Rub. "I assumed it was hair product," Deep sniff. "…and bought it."

I broke out of his grip and bent down to snatch the bottle off the ground. I read off the label: "Apple Martini Mixer. Make you very own alcoholic drink at home!"

My eyes narrowed. "You…IDIOT!" And now he was getting high off of the alcoholic fumes coming from my hair. Splendid.

Jasper cringed slightly. "It smells good. What else is there to complain about?"

I advanced on him, pushing him back against a tree. "You…" Well, my mind amended, he's only stupid, not mean. You shouldn't scare the poor intoxicated fellow.

At a loss for words due to my own mental reprimand, I stood there for a moment, hands planted on either side of Jasper.

He suddenly grinned slyly, and wriggled down the tree a bit. "Aw, I knew you couldn't stay mad at me. Now then, back to business. What shall we do now? Spend quality time traveling the countryside?" He paused in thought. "Spend all afternoon talking? They both sound so much fun…"

He was almost eye level now. A sudden impulse from the general area of my gut seized control of my body, and before my conscious mind knew what was happening, I had leaned forward and kissed him. A very small part of my brain was screaming "Holycrapwhatintheheckdidyoujustdo!" but I ignored it.

Jasper leaned away first this time, and shook his head slightly. "Ah, how you work your charms so unfairly."

I turned around, so we were facing the same way, and slid down the tree. I sat down on the ground, shards of tree bark around me. (My bare shoulders had cracked them off)

Jasper slid down next to me, grinning again. "Well, then. How about that talking business?" He wrapped his arm around my shoulders.

"Have you ever noticed how, every time we sit down to talk, we always end up like this?"

"_Every _time? My lady, we have only sat down to talk _twice._" Jasper right out laughed.

I stuck my tongue out at him. "You… you… jeez, specifics, specifics."

"Both times have been after a kiss, though. I could count that as something."

"You could count the weather as something, if you really tried," I added unhelpfully.

"But what if I don't want to try? What if I want to be lazy and act on impulses?" He lifted his free hand to tilt up my chin.

I looked at him defiantly.

This got me a puzzled look. "Wha-at?

"You are such a hypocrite. You gag on my cheesy lines and yet you spout them like a poet."

"A poet?" He arched an eyebrow. "No, no, _poets_ are poor, lonely burn-outs who have no lives. _I_ have a life, am no longer lonely, and I am fairly wealthy. There is a difference, you know."

"I never said you were a poet, only that you were cheesy like one." I rolled my eyes. "Get it right!"

"Fine. From now on: a ban on all cheesy, lovey-dovey, sappy, or otherwise poetic phrases. Except for poetry by Edgar Allan Poe. Because he is just cool like that."

"Proposal accepted. Yay for impulse." I was starting to get uncomfortable from having my chin tilted up, but I didn't want to– oh, whatever, I thought, as I turned my head sideways and brought it to a comfortable angle.

"Can we stop talking about impulses now?" Jasper whined.

"Anything you– no, no! Whatever." I had just averted from sarcastic disaster.

"Ah-ha! It's harder than you think, now isn't it? Not so easy to be un-cheesy."

"Oh, no. Please, please don't rhyme like that…"

"Why can't I rhyme…" He drifted off, probably in search of a rhyme for 'can't.'

"Because, as stated earlier, I thought we banned 'other poetic phrases.' Rhyming certainly poetic. Besides, if you do rhyme, I might have to move. Far, far away."

"Hey, some Edgar Allan Poe can rhyme! Lets see…

"Romance, who loves to nod and sing,

With drowsy head and folded wing,

Among the green leaves as they shake,

Far down within some shadowy lake,

To me a painted paroquet—a most familiar bird—

Taught me my alphabet to say—

To lisp my very earliest word

While in the wood I did lie,

A child—with most knowing eye.

"Suceeding years, too wild for song,

They roll'd like tropic storms along,

Where, tho' the garish lights that fly

Dying along the troubled sky,

Lay bare thro' vistas thunder-riven

The blackness of the general heaven…"

I closed my eyes, enjoying the liquid of the words.

"That very blackness yet doth fling

Light on the lightning's sliver wing.

"For, being an idle boy lang syne,

Who read Anacreon and drank wine,

I early found that Anacreon rhymes

Were almost passionate sometimes—

And by strange alchemy of the brain

His pleasures always turn'd to pain—

His naivete to wild desire—

His wits to love—his wine to fire

And so, being young and dipt in folly

I fell in love with melancholy,

And used to throw my earthly rest

And quiet all away in jest—

I could not love except where Death

Was mingling with his Beauty's breath—

Or Hymen, Time, and Destiny

Were stalking between her and me."

As soon as Jasper stopped reciting, my eyes snapped open. He was looking at me curiously.

"Was it that boring?" He asked, slightly depressed.

I answered him with another question. "Is that the end?"

"You liked it?"

"I liked your reciting. The poem in itself was… really philosophical, I guess. It was hard to understand, for me. I can concentrate better when I close my eyes, though."

"Well," He amended, "There is more, but I can't remember it all. Something about later, Condor years, and how his draught…" Jasper screwed up his face, trying to remember. "…of… passion had been deep, but now he's just old and…" he sighed in defeat. "That's about all I can get."

"It was good, anyway. I think you might've changed my mind about poetry."

He leaned down and kissed my hair lightly. "I'm sure you'd hate the rest of it. Nothing's quite the same as good ol' sadistic Eddy."

During the course of the next week, it was impossible to stay bored, sad, or depressed. I was never without Jasper; most of the time we just sat and talked, or he read to me out of the monstrous fifteen-hundred page book he had bought, called _Les Misérables. _It was a good way to spend an afternoon: propped up against a tree, leaning against Jasper, listening to the story of Jean Valjean.

No, it wasn't simply _good, _it was… incredible, peaceful, exhilarating, relaxing, remarkable, and entertaining all at the same time.

It was heaven. But alas, how many times in stories have we heard that heaven lasts only in fairytales and when you're dead?


	13. 13 is a very unlucky number

**Sorry 'bout the delays, guys, but my beta had some computer trouble, and I can't publish without my beta. : She didn't say she hated this chapter, (actually she liked it (I think)) And I hope you won't either. Just remember what the chapter title is. . .  
**

**Yeah, just don't complain too loudly. Everything will be fine. Again, you know the future of these two, and I ain't changing that.  
**

** Well, here it goes...**

Chapter 13

"…and that," Jasper snapped the book shut. "Is the end."

It had taken us just a little over a week to read the whole thing. That was with breaks in the night and at about mid-day, to go and dance or run, simply enjoy the weather or have in-depth discussions about the plot. Since it was autumn, the days were getting colder, and soon the rain would turn into snow. Pfft. Who cared again?

It was silent for about twenty minutes then, because I had discovered that Jasper actually didn't particularly like talking to people. I was a rare exception. Besides, who needs words when the person you're sitting next to feels exactly what you feel?

My mind wandered along that familiar train of thought, about Jasper's power. Could he make other people feel certain emotions? Is love an emotion? Could he then… No! I slammed on the breaks of my mind. Jasper would never do anything like that!!

But I asked anyway. "Um..Jasper?"

"What?"

"Can you…make other people feel specific emotions?"

"Yes, I suppose so. I can calm people down, or make them happier and things like that."

"Would you define love as an emotion?" There: I had said it. The forbidden L-word. It had never been specifically banned, but we never mentioned it. What we had was - hopefully - different.

"I wouldn't; I would say lust is an emotion, but love is different. Love can make you do inhuman—" He paused, and laughed a little. "— Okay, abnormal things. It can make you jump off of a cliff, or sacrifice your life for another being. That's definitely more than an emotion."

So, did I love Jasper? It posed an interesting question. There was only one way to find out, I suppose.

"Make me feel lust, then. I wonder if I've ever felt it."

"Alice! You would be on me in a heartbeat. Well," He amended, "In the blink of an eye, let's say."

"Just do it. Please? You never know; I might be feeling it all along."

"I can only make people feel…how to put it… extremely. I can't make you mildly happy, I make you optimistic. I make you happy-go-lucky, so-damn-happy-that-you-could-dance-off-a-cliff happy."

"Pleeease?"

"Fine." He rolled his eyes. "I don't get why you're suddenly so interested…" He gripped my shoulders a bit tighter, and his eyes became slightly misty.

There was complete silence.

Nothing happened.

Jasper snapped out of his trance and winced slightly, as if expecting me to leap up at him. I simply stared.

"Nothing happened. What does that mean..?"

"That would mean… you're already feeling it." A dark part of my mind hissed in fury. _That, or he's already been making you feel it. After all, you've only known him for a week! You're already infatuated! Look at yourself!_ It definitely wasn't Conscience. Conscience had seemed to disappear, just like my visions.

Without another thought, I listened to that little voice. It had made everything click in my head.

I suddenly stood up, making Jasper's arm wrench off of my shoulders. I turned to face him. "Jasper…what did you do to me in the tree? You said you were never sure you liked me until we fell out of that tree. What if I never liked you before that? What if you changed my feelings for you by accident? I never started even looking at you in… that way until after you 'fixed' me!"

"Alice…what's gotten into you?"

"I…I don't know! Maybe I'm seeing the truth, maybe it's lies - how can I know when I can't trust my own emotions?"

Jasper looked up, frowning in frustration. "How many times have I told you I won't fool with your emotions anymore?"

"Yes, I know; but what if the damage has already been done? You did toy with them once, you know."

"You were so depressed you could have contemplated suicide!"

"That doesn't change anything."

"It changes everything! But if you insist on being stubborn, that's fine. Just know I always thought you were better than this."

"Better than what?"

"Never you mind."

"Well, you know what? I think it'd be the best for both of us if we took a little 'break.'"

"FINE! Take a little 'break' for the rest of eternity; see if I care! You're just like the other two!" Jasper had stood up; he towered angrily over me like a vengeful god.

"I think I just might." I said stubbornly, and before I knew where I was going, I was sprinting through the forest, as fast as I could go.

After a half hour or so, I stopped, leaning up against a tree. I was shaking all over, dry sobs ripping at my throat.

What had I just _done?_

-+-

I sat at the base of that anonymous tree for at least a week. I don't remember much, but I do remember the almost constant rain. My dress plastered itself to my legs, and my mascara ran – in a sickeningly poetic fashion - down my upturned cheeks. I couldn't look at anything but sky, and then only clear or one-toned sky, without my mind turning it into a picture of a pair of sad eyes, or, worse, his whole face. If I did see either, I lost whatever semblance of composure I had managed to gather, and let my head fall into my arms, submitting to the warring parts within me for at least a little while.

One side of me argued that I was feeling guilty and miserable when I shouldn't, and it was he who should be sorry that he tricked me.

The other side said that I was being irrational, and that my misery meant that all my feelings had come of my own accord.

Considering that the first voice had gotten me here, I was inclined to listen to it more than the other one.

I was also plagued by strange visions of a group of vampires that I wasn't familiar with. One of them, the leader I assumed, was a woman with bleached-blonde hair who always wore the kind of tight, revealing black dresses that were considered unstylish and lewd nowadays. There were always shadowy people in the background of every vision, and I knew, for some reason, that they were all vampires.

So, the days dragged by. I sat in a pool of misery, rethinking every move, word, and thought I had made in the past few weeks; flinching when it came to my highly emotional and sickeningly adoring feelings towards a certain someone.


	14. Nearly poetic

**I feel horrible. Just thought I'd tell you. Yes, I am fully aware that it has been, what, four weeks? since I've posted. I feel like I've let you guys down. But with school and extraciriccular(sp?) stuff, I haven't had much time to write, and when I did, I had MAJOR writer's block. I really hadn't planned farther than chapter 13.  
**

** But, on a brighter side, I suppose, I've started a HP fanfic, and a one-shot from Jasper-love's POV.**

**So, greatest apologies. But now I actually know where I'm going, so I will be posting more often. That, and, school's almost over. No more term papers due.**

**Enjoy my labors,  
**

**Grey-chan.**

Chapter 14

CRACK.

I slammed the back of my head into the tree again and again.

CRUNCH. CRACK.

Why did I still sob whenever I thought of him? _Him. _Laughing at me, actually listening to me, the dreamy look he got on his face when he began to read…

CRACK.

Gone.

CRACK.

My heart was on fire, consuming the cold empty void within me.

CRACK.

The void was back.

I slammed my head back harder, and the tree shuddered. Damp pine needles fell around me, adding to the rain coursing down at an angle just big enough to get me wet.

I couldn't get the thoughts out of my head. I had tried for how many days, weeks even?

—_Jasper was next to the blonde woman. They embrace, and her eyes flash. Both of their eyes are deep burgundy. Jasper looks ragged and unclean, and grateful to have company. Before I could stop the vision, I see them turn to each other and kiss passionately. My heart_— I lurched forward, suddenly on my feet, clutching my chest.

So was he moving on?

_If he is, it's all your fault. All your fault. All your fault. _The mantra went on in my head, I felt like dying. _You had him, and you were both happy. All your fault. _

I stumbled forward; attempting to coordinate my legs enough to walk after my long sit. _Time to pick a direction, get to a road, and find Denver, _I planned. Yes, it was probably weakest plan in the world, but that was just about as much as my brain could handle at that moment.

I turned towards a muddy deer-path that led out of my clearing, and resignedly walked out of my miserable haven into the dark twilight of the forest.

Before I knew it, I was running.

---FG---(time skip)

I stepped out onto the carefully paved highway, looking left and right for cars. It wasn't that I couldn't, oh, you know, run out of the way of any car that came my way in less than one hundreth of a second. It was just so that I didn't seriously freak out some poor person; I looked pretty scary, or at least I felt like it. My hair had become plastered to my head the moment I had stepped out of the forest; it was still pouring. My mascara had dried enough during my run through the forest, hawever, to become stuck firmly to my cheeks in two long black streaks. My dress had lost its poof, and I counted myself lucky that it hadn't slipped off.

I followed the highway until I came to a flourescent green sign that glowed in the light of the crescent moon that peeked out through the clouds. "Denver: 20."

I sprinted, as fast as I could, those twenty miles. At about mile fifteen I began to see a few scattered houses, and by the time I had come all twenty I was "in Denver." That is to say, in the worst slums of Denver.

I supposed I should start looking… but where? Bars and whore-houses seemed perfect; but I didn't particularly want to go to a whore-house… ever. So, I began to look for a bar. It was these bars, in the slums of cities, where the vampires and werewolves lurked. Who is to say a drunkard didn't drown in their own vomit? No one would know that they had really been rended limb from limb and eaten, or better yet, been drained of all their blood, as an after-midnight snack.

If Jasper's eyes were red, like they had been in my vision, and he had decided to stay nearby, he would be around.

When I saw the gritty neon nign that proclaimed: "The Rambling Duck Tavern" I knew I had found a starting point. I decided to first walk in, check out the customers, look in the rooms upstairs, and then head out to the alleyway on the side. Worst came to worst, I could just lurk in the alley until a vampire came along, as one inevitably would.

Just before I walked into the bar, I hesitated. The 'good people of Denver' would surely flinch at the sight of my ghastly apparrel. But wait, I convinced myself, this is a bar.

So I turned the handle and walked in. As soon as I was on the coarsely woven rug that served as a doormat, I had a feeling that I was in trouble. More than that, I smelled it. Care to know what trouble smells like?

Wet werewolf.


	15. I'm running out of chapter names

**Hello, hello! Welcome to yet another installment of my fanfiction. I'm currently debating on whether to **

**A Make a sequel  
**

**or B Just make this one really long.**

**Lemme know what you think. So, with that, Relax, Read, and above all, Review!**

**Grey-Chan  
**

Chapter 15

My eyes snapped over to the table where the scent was coming from, and I saw three burly men and one wild-looking woman. All of them had dark brown hair, except the biggest of the pack, whose hair was blond. Bleach-blond, bordering on white; and he looked familiar. As soon as the door closed behind me, the four of them bolted to their feet, their eyes snapping to me.

As fast as my reflexes allowed, I ripped the door open, killing two out of three hinges, and bolted towards the alleyway. I heard the door complain –with the effort of opening to admit four more people– by the time I was at the corner. As soon as I turned into the alley, however, I saw one of the dark-haired guys at its end, right before it intersected another street. I whipped around, to see the other three blocking my only other exit.

I looked around, panicking, and saw a fire escape dangling just above the second storey. I ran towards and up the wall, reaching…

I felt a firm grip on my ankle pulling me back, and down. I lost my momentum, and crashed to the ground. I had just enough time to shove my elbows and heels down, so the person I landed on would have a nasty surprise. But, astonishingly enough, my attacker had had enough reflex to move out of the way. So, I hit the pavement with a tremendous CRACK, leaving four round holes with cracks spider webbing out from them.

Almost before I could think, I was pulled up and pinned against the craggy brick wall of the building, staring into the eyes of the pack leader, the blond one. My wrists were crossed over my head, with one of his heavily muscled arms pinning them there. His other forearm was pressed tight against my waist, and one of his legs was shove across mine, effectively pinning me against the wall.

His ice blue eyes bored into mine, and I looked to the side, knowing that he was testing me, the way wolves and dogs to sometimes. Eye contact is bad; it means you're challenging them. My logic in these situations was this: if you act defiant, you are more likely to get hurt and killed. Passive good, as far as I was concerned.

He chuckled darkly and turned his head to the side. "Trey, Marcus, Fera, keep those exits blocked. Better yet, Fera, you can go and keep people away from here out front. Tell them the usual."

The female, Fera, nodded and stalked back to the part of the alley that was near the front of the bar. The other two hulks stayed where they were, but shifted to a more… alert stance.

The hulk pinning me turned back to me, and grinned. His breath hit me like a brick wall of decaying skunks. He towered over me; he was even taller than Jasper. _Jasper. _My heart let out a painful cry that only I could hear. I swallowed hard, and the brute in front of me noticed.

"Scared? You have reason to be. The last vampire we met up with… well, let's just say she suffered before she ceased to exist."

Then I did get scared. Really damn terrified. Yes, rending someone limb from limb _would _be painful for the person in question, but I had this feeling that that wasn't what this dog was talking about _at all._

The cur glanced around, cackled, and released me. "Now the fun begins," he said, backing several feet away. I looked over my shoulder at the fire escape, but I didn't think I would be fast enough. I crouched down, slowly stepping to the side. The man mirrored me. We began to circle. _What should I do? Catch him by surprise, that's it. But how?_

Suddenly, out of the oblivion of happier days, a verse sprang into my head. I closed my eyes and stopped, to proclaim with a shaky voice: "Romance, who loves to nod and sing, with drowsy head and folded wing." I heard his footsteps falter. I didn't stop. "Among the green leaves as they shake, Far down within some shadowy lake…" I paused. I couldn't remember the next lines.

"To me a painted paroquet, a most familiar bird, Taught me my alphabet to say, To lisp my very earliest word." A smooth voice continued, after I had waited in agonizing silence for several seconds. I looked around hurriedly, just as a fairly short man with an untidy mop of brown hair stepped past the female werewolf. He extended his hand to me. "Okay, honey, we have you covered."

Just then, the guards at the end of the alleyway were both seized by about three people; and, judging by the startled yelp from the front end of the bar, Fera had been too. The two I could see were dragged around their respective corners without a sound.

Two more people, both dressed in police uniforms, stepped up behind the short man as he advanced on the blond werewolf, who was swearing. As soon as he saw them move, however, he leaped forward; and, pinning my arms to my sides, held me in front of him. I felt his breath burning right next to my neck.

"I'll kill her, you know I can…" He warned; and there was no doubt of it in _my_ mind. The mop-haired man stepped forward again, and I felt the werewolf's teeth brush my exposed shoulder.

"Now, be reasonable, Matthew…" The short man warned. Matthew. Suddenly, everything clicked in my head.

_flashbaaaaack _

_The only two left standing around were me, and a lady of about twenty-three or so, dressed in a lime-green dress that was strapless, and barely went past her knees. She wore matching eye shadow, but it didn't look bad on her, like it did on Veronica Spelts. She smiled at me, and indicated Jasper. _

"_Is he your fiancé?" _

_I smiled acknowledgingly. "Is the other your partner?"_

"_Husband," she corrected. "It was an arranged marriage, very odd for these times. Matthew isn't mean, but there's nothing more than friendship between us."_

God, _that one! _Holy hell. I _knew_ he had looked familiar!

The man took another step forward, and the werewolf licked me. Yes, no mistake there. _Licked _me. Just as he was about to sink his teeth in, A yell split the air. It sounded something like, "Holysh-fu-ALICE!"

It was loud enough to stop the beast from ripping a chunk out of my skin, and it made the short man and his attendant 'police officers' flinch; right before they went flying.

At the same time the three amigos across from me went flying, the worthless werewolf ran out from behind me, bolting out of the alley, whimpering in what appeared to be pain.

Silhouetted in the light of a streetlamp, his honey-colored hair glowing and a grief-stricken expression on his face, was Jasper. I wanted to scream, to shout, to sob, to talk… but my lips remained frozen, my eyes were still wide, and I did not move an inch.

Jasper looked into my eyes, and did not move. The three people he had sent flying slowly picked themselves up and re-congealed next to a trash can. They stared at Jasper; resentful but curious all the same.

Jasper's eyes stayed locked on mine; but he stepped forward.

The moment was shattered.

I began to shake badly. I backed up a step, so I was against the wall. I slid down the rough brick, putting my head in my hands. The events of the past hour or so all pressed into my skull, and I moaned.

I heard a pair of footsteps get closer, a crunch of gravel as that person bent down, and felt a pair of arms wrap securely around me.

"Alice….?" It was Jasper's soft whisper in my ear.

There was one thing I wanted at the moment. "I want to sleep." I demanded feebly, looking up at him with a look that would have sent a normal person into convulsions of horror, or something similar to them.

"Consider it…" was all I heard before I sank into grateful unconsciouness.


	16. Jasper messed up Big time

**Hey, all. I don't think this fanfic will be ending in the _near_ ** **near future, but I plan to have it finished before_ Eclipse _comes out. Since we're learning more about Jasper** **and that means my fanfic will become _null. _Just thought I'd tell you guys.**

** But more than 60 reviews. W-O-W. I love you guys, really. You give my ego food to live on.**

**Well, school's out, so I will hopefully update more. Maybe not, I don't exactly know. I'll try to let you know, ahead of time, if I leave.**

** Oh, by the way, Minutes to Midnight rocks. You should buy it.**

**Grey-chan**

Chapter 16

I woke up to the sound of a gutter breaking and falling to the ground with a sickening slap as it hit the muddy street. After the immediate shock of daylight hit me, I noticed it was raining… again. I was sitting— well, make that… reclining— against Jasper on a bench underneath an overhang.

The gutter in question was now crumpled on the ground in all of its flimsy aluminum glory.

I looked up to find that Jasper was staring at me with an odd expression in his eyes. His blood-red eyes. I looked down and jammed my fist into my forehead, recounting everything that had happened in the past weeks.

"Alice?" The tentative question seemed loaded.

I twisted around and buried my face in his chest, hugging him close to keep the world out. His dripping white shirt almost felt warm against my face. Then again, didn't everything?

Nothing came to me; what should I say? _Sorry is a start. _Conscience? _The one and only. _Joy. _I feel sarcasm; don't try to hide it from me. _Insert innocent blink here. _Pshaw._

I looked up to find Jasper's hair falling over his eyes. I reached up and brushed it out, tucking it gently behind his ear. "I'm… sorry. My fault." I managed.

"No, you dolt." He shifted, pulling me up next to him and keeping his arm around my shoulders. "I should have told you that very first time in the tree… no, before that even. Maybe in the cave; right after you told me." His eyes were pain. I looked down again.

"Listen…"

"No, you listen. All. My. Fault. I could've run after you, explained everything–"

"You know as well as I do it wouldn't have helped," I said firmly, my eyes flashing up again; this time I nearly glared. "Look, Jasper, I can see how you think it might be your fault, but consider my half. Be reasonable; and please, lets stop blaming anyone."

At my little outburst of anger, his eyes slowly softened into vague happiness. Then, without warning, he dropped his head onto mine. It didn't hurt, I barely felt it; but it was the fact that Jasper, _Jasper, _needed what looked like moral support.

I was still; after all, what could I do other than _be _there? _Yeah, he'll let out what needs to be let out._

I took his free hand in mine– well, as 'in' as it could be –and squeezed it lightly. He ran his thumb across the back of my hand, and I felt him take a deep breath—

"God, Alice– I missed you so much– I was so scared–I felt horrible– and then when I saw you in the alley–" He suddenly shifted again and grabbed my shoulders, leaned forward, and planted a firm kiss on my lips. "Never, _never, _do that to me again. If you want to kill me, which would be quite understandable, at least let me follow you around until you rip me apart…"

I patted him awkwardly on the back, sympathizing completely. "It's okay Jasper… besides, we _will _have to be away from each other in the future I guarantee–" CRASH. There went another gutter. "–it. "

I fought to stay calm, for Jasper's sake, I convinced myself. He didn't need my emotions bearing down on him, after all. I fought back an outburst of questions, from asking if he had met a certain blonde, to exactly how much_ was_ he beating himself up? Then there was the whole must–get–story–out–before–combustion feeling in my gut. But that could be ignored.

I stared pensively out into the rain. Soon enough, I felt a breeze, gentle as a butterfly's wing, brushing across the top of my head. I attempted to look backwards, only to have Jasper's lips and teeth collide painfully with my forehead. I hurriedly scooted away, rubbing my forehead. I grinned at Jasper, who was rubbing his mouth.

"Can't you leave a man to his romantic notions?"

"Can't you give a girl some time to think of her own?"

"Okay," He reclined back, staring straight at me. His eyes laughed. I shifted uncomfortably, staring into the rain again. After a minute of my thoughts boiling in circles, I felt another light breeze next to my ear. I sighed.

"Now what?"

"How long are you going to make me wait?" He was closer than I thought, and I jumped slightly, then turned to him and grinned.

"As long as it takes."

He groaned. "Oh, my lovely midnight sun," He started melodramatically,  
"What will it take to receive but one kiss from those lips so soft that rose petals look like bricks?"

I couldn't help but laugh. "Really, Romeo. Brush up on your poetry."

He slid off of the bench to kneel in front of me, his hands clasped in the air. "I will recite poetry, if that is what you want! Or would you prefer an original work? Let me see…" He turned away. "With EYES so GOLden THAT the SUN would PALE…" He marked something on his fingers.

"Stop, STOP!" I warmed to the game. "I demand good poetry."

"Is mine not what you wish, oh fairest lady in all the world?"

"Fair, is that all? Good knight, if I am but fair, you had best remove yourself from my presence."

"Ah, how the tongue betrays me! You are not only fair and beautiful, but your grace exceeds that of the Aurora Borealis in its entire splendor. Your skin–"

"Get on with the poetry, please." Even though my ego had swelled considerably.

"'It was many and many a year ago, in a kingdom by the sea, that a maiden lived there whom you may know, by the name of Annabel Lee; And this maiden she lived with no other thought, than to love an be loved by me…'"

"Oh, I've heard this before. It's incredibly depressing. Gallant knight, something else, if you please..."

"If you want something happy, I suggest you find another knight."

"Well, you see–"

_Are you two going to flirt all day, or can we come in?_ A rough, abrasive voice asked in my head. It was definitely masculine, and it was _not _a figment of my imagination. The same thing must have sounded in Jasper's head, because both of us shot up like we'd been burned.

Just outside of our awning stood an imposing figure in a black coat, with two incredibly pale policemen flanking him. The mop-haired man.

Jasper and I growled simultaneously, and he shifted to a slight crouch. The figure in black simply cackled.

"Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Henry." I snickered, and he flashed me a dangerous glare. "My companions and I," Gesture at policemen, stare at Jasper. "Couldn't help but notice your exemplary behavior last night. I would like to have a word with _you _concerning a certain new… group. If you would wait,_ mademoiselle, _we won't be but a minute." He stared pointedly into my eyes. I shifted uncomfortably.

"_Any_thing you have to say can be said in front of Alice." Jasper snarled.

"I beg to differ, Jasper, my _friend,_" Jasper seemed as shocked as I did that the creep knew his name.

The man stepped forward and put his arm around Jasper's shoulder, stepping in front of me. "Really, come on, you sense better than I do that no one is feeling tricksy or malicious."

Jasper sighed and looked back at me. "Back in a few, then." His eyes were confuzed, but his smile was a bitter grimace.

They both stepped out into the rain and vanished, or so it seemed. The two police moved in, seating themselves on the bench behind me. One of them smiled dangerously and removed his cap, revealing maroon eyes.

"I suppose you want to know something?"

I nodded dumbly, missing the strong presence that was Jasper._ – I saw myself, sitting alone in the rain. I was wearing Jasper's tent of a shirt, and it was torn and muddy over my dress. I turn happily, a smile coming, to see–_

And anguished wail cut through my trance. I heard the punding slop that was Jasper through mud, felt him grasp my hand, and let him pull me out into the rain.

"_I have to fix a very large mistake_." I felt numb from being awoken so fast. "Alice? ALICE!" I was being shaken. I looked up dazedly at Jasper, and felt the warrm rain on my face.

The panic in his eyes brought me crashing back to reality. "Jasp-what happened? Mistake?" I was not the most comprehenisble person in the world…

"I made a mistake…" He sighed, his heart in his eyes. "After you ran away, I went to the city. I was in a fit of depression, and I lashed out at the first person I met. It was your friend from the dance. Remember that lady in green?"

I was comprehending _now. _Adrianna Harold. **note from me: if you don't remember who that is, re-read chapter.. 10.**

"I ended up drawing blood. After that, I went crazy. I left my control back with you, obviously. After I had drained her of half her blood, I realized what I was doing. I somehow pulled myself away."

I didn't know what to say. His eyes begged me to understand.

"I never knew what happened to her. Now I know that she has somehow, in this past week, created a small coven of vapires that have been ravaging the richest, safest suburbs around." He glanced back at Henry. "It's my job to fix it, since all of this was my fault in the first place. Now, I don't want to drag you into this, so…"

My brain stuttered into life. "You won't be dragging _me _anywhere, Jasper Whitlock." I poked him firmly on his sternum. It was hard. "We're in this together."

He looked shamefully grateflul. "Well, after all, all we have to do is hunt down an expert hunter, pull them away from their easy prey, and convince them to convert to vegetarianism." He rolled his eyes and straightened up.

"Right then." I looped my arm through his. "Where are we off to?"

He sighed in exaperation. "I swear, one day you're going to get us both killed."

"On the contrary, I do believe you will be the first to get us killed, and then I'll end up ressurecting us."


	17. Oh, what tonsilitis makes you think of

**I'm so sorry I'm a day late. I've been sick since last friday, I just kinda have been completely useless until tuesday, at which point I had to do EVERYTHING I had missed. So there's my reason. I wrote this chapter in about an hour, so feel free to yell at me if it sucks. Okay, don't yell, but tell me to fix it, insert-swear-word-of-choice-here, or else you'll stop reading, and I'll be perfectly happy to fix it. Just tell me what I did wrong? o.o**

**I'm going on a school trip monday afteroon, and won't be back until next friday, so I'll TRY to get another chapter up before I leave. I'll try really hard. TT.TT**

**-Grey-chan**

One would assume that two bedraggled vampires would not be welcome in a nice, suburban neighborhood. At least it was cloudy.

We got my mascara off. I did not wipe it off, and no, there were no tongues involved, get your mind out of the gutter.

About a quarter of the way to our allotted area, (in other words, the place where Adrianna was most likely to be), I stopped skipping. I realized that I hadn't kissed Jasper for nearly a week.

My inner-self started to yell at me.

Even though it was cloudy, and we were walking by a copious amount of taverns, Jasper still glowed. My inner-self was now swooning and yelling, at the same time.

About halfway there, by my reckoning at least, Jasper acquired a slight frown. This made my inner-self unhappy.

Three-fourths of the way there, I broke the silence. Well, as silent as it can get when you hear sirens, the roar of traffic, and people all around you.

"Nice weather." I was so lame.

"Yeah…" Okay, maybe not quite so bad..?

"What are you thinking about?" Give me a one-way ticket to I-suck-at-small-talk Land.

"Life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, your hair. An assortment of odd things."

"Only my hair has nothing to do with the United States government."

"Who said anything about government?"

"Hey, I'm not retarded, you know. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are right up there in the Constitution."

"Declaration of Independence."

"_Sor_-ry. I didn't mean to break your little bubble of perfection." It didn't sound so snappy in my head.

"No. My fault, again." He lifted my hand up and kissed it. My inner-self twitched.

_Don't make this cheesy. I'll throw up._ Conscience complained. I snorted.

Our walk continued. I said nothing more, and neither did he.

Then it came upon me like a brick wall.

"Why my _hair?_"

"Because I love it."

"Just my hair?"

"You know the answer."

"Oh, really?"

He stopped, grabbed me roughly by the shoulders, and kissed me. My inner-self threw a parade.

After a period of time, I realized we were at our general destination. One would assume that suburban housewives did not like bedraggled vampires making-out in their driveway.

I disentangled my hands from Jasper's hair, (It was silky. No, better. Not quite cloud-material, but I'm willing to bet that he'd give an angel a run for their money. Because angels are always clean, aren't they?) and looked meaningfully at the lady who clutched her child protectively to her bosom.

He grinned, and we walked on, a lot closer now.

After a while, I started to actually focus on why we were creeping out poor, 'innocent' suburban housewives. I didn't see any sparkling people with red eyes, but that didn't particularly mean anything. Jasper was the one steering us around, after all…

_Adrianna stood proudly, with the feet splayed apart and her hands on her hips. A formidable crowd of vampires stood behind her, It was raining, and her hair clung damply to her back and the upper part of her arms. _

_She surveyed Jasper and I, who were standing in a damp tangle. (In other words, very, very, VERY close to each other) Then she stepped forward, smirking, and, seizing Jasper by his shirt front, pulled him forward. Without me. _

_I pouted inside as I watched the scene unfold._

_She whispered into his ear as I stood motionless, watching them. After a few seconds he turned angrily away, shoving her back. She simply laughed as she caught herself, and Jasper took my hand and started to walk away._

_He stopped suddenly, as if he had had an unexpected thought. He turned back to Adrianna, with his hand outstretched. She laughed at him, but slowly stopped. Jasper dropped my hand and stepped towards her, telling her something. _

_For some reason, I couldn't hear _anything _that was going on._

_I craned my non-existent head forward, just as she seized the front of Jasper's shirt and kissed him. From what I saw in the instant before I closed my eyes, it looked like a full French. _

I ripped myself out of the vision to find that we were standing in that very park. Jasper was shaking me.

"Wha did you See?"

I attempted to look up at him calmly. "When we find them, please don't try to get her to like you." I put my head in my hands, took a deep breath, and straightened up.

"Okay… so what did you See?" He prodded, obviously wanting more information.

"The basic situation is, I just got a vision I've been receiving for a long time, but with more background information, so to speak. It started off with Adrianna, and she's standing across from us with a whole bunch of vampires behind her…"

"What, like this?" A sharp voice intoned from behind Jasper. I jumped, and her calmly turned around.

"Hello, my awful creation. I'm afraid you're going to have to learn some new rules."

"You put it so bluntly, Jasper. Why can't you at least introduce your new pet. That's what she is, right?" She turned to me. "That's what he does, dear. You really should stay away from this type. They always turn on you."

"What makes you the sudden expert on men, Adrianna? Last time I checked, your husband was a werewolf." I replied calmly, trying not to freak. Adrianna was calmly replying to our insults like they were nothing. True, the insults weren't very good, but from the calm-ness she showed, I gathered that she was _not _going to end up a vegetarian.

"Remember, I didn't like my husband, not the slightest bit." She smiled, and began cleaning her nails. "So what _are _you here for? I don't assume its to extend an olive branch and say 'lets be friends?'"

"Alice, I have to do it." Jasper whispered out of the corner of his mouth.

"Do what?"

"Try and get her to like me."

"No! Jasper, you can't!"

"I can, and I will. Would you rather that they keep killing people?"

I couldn't argue with that. Well, I kind of wanted to, but that would just get me a 'give me a break' look.

"Actually, Adrianna," Jasper started towards her, with his hand outstretched as if to shake hers. "We kind of are extending an olive branch. Under some conditions. care to negotiate?"

He looked back at me. "Cover me. Please?" He hissed. I sighed and trotted up next to him.

He walked straight up to Adrianna and put his hands on her shoulders, staring her straight in the eyes. The crowd behind her boiled and I shifted position. Not that I knew much about fighting, but hey, I could land a few punches… I hoped.

The first came up. "What's he doing to her…? Get him off­-" I elbowed him in the stomach and slammed my fist down on the back of his head once he bent down. He dropped to the ground, and I applauded myself. In my head.

I walked around so I was facing the crowd -okay, all ten- of the vampires behind Adrianna. They all grinned evilly, and I held up my hands. "Okay, guys, listen. Jasper's just _talking _to Adrianna. Okay? No need to jump to conclusions…"

"Well, you're one fine piece."

The crowd and I turned as one to Adrianna, who was looking at Jasper. Who was standing there, looking helpless.

Adrianna walked around him, sizing him up like a racehorse. I boiled inside, and took a step forward-

"Alice! No. Stay there," Jasper begged.

"Yes, Alice, stay there, let him be petted for once. You never did a very good job with it." Adrianna smiled while she rubbed Jasper's shoulders. He tensed up, but she just walked around again. "He needs to be petted and preened, this one. You had best run along, little girl, before this gets nasty."

_Don't do it_, Conscience warned. I didn't listen.

"Nasty? I'll show you nasty you little b—"

"Don't DO IT!" Jasper yelled, lunging forward and pinning my arms. He ended up kneeling right in front of me, with a smug Adrianna standing about five feet away.

"Alice, don't you understand? It's all a charade. I need her to love me enough to convert to vegetarianism. What else can we do? We can't kill all twelve of them. Don't get jealous, there's nothing to be jealous of! Do you understand?" He had muttered the whole paragraph into my stomach. I looked down at him.

I wiggled an arm out of his grip and stroked his hair. So soooooooft….."I understand, and there's probably no other way, but god, it hurts."

He looked up at me. "You own my heart, my dear, so keep it safe."

He got up and walked over to Adrianna. "We have some talking to do, no?"

"Why don't you come with us? The girl can come to, if you want her to."

"No, you'll just hurt her in some way or another. You'll wait here, right Alice?" His eyes were hurting. I nodded dumbly.

"I love how you're so blunt!" Adrianna clutched his arms and began to walk off. "We'll be back eventually." She seemed to taste eventually as it left her mouth.

"Right. Get going then." I shooed them away. "You make me sick."

They left me there. _remember your other vision, though? Shirt. Go. Get. The. Shirt._

With visions, you never know. Maybe , in some way, my running after them, grabbing Jasper, and watching his stunned expression as I asked for his shirt and he gave it to me, would make them come back.

_You can never tell until it happens_, ooh yay. Stuck here, wearing Jasper's shirt, in the middle of a park, under a tree, with Conscience. I was going to have _so_ much fun.


	18. Talking to onesself

**Hey, guys, sorry this one's short. Just got done packing;; I'll be back in town on Saturday, so I'll try to post in a week. (next monday)  
**

** Enjoy this chapter, sorry for the cliffie, and have a nice day.**

**Grey-chan**

Chapter 18

_You could've sucker-punched her and gotten all three of us, Jasper, you, AND me, killed, but you didn't. That counts for something. _

"I let them get away. I let her go away with Jasper, who has no shirt on!" I shook my over-garment for emphasis.

_You didn't _let _her get away, not at all. Jasper's probably getting her to stop right this moment._

"Lets hope he uses his vocabulary, and not his many _other_ skills."

_He loves you. He practically waved a banner in front of your face._

"He didn't, though. He didn't even say it. So since when are you an expert on love? You've probably never even been in a relationship."

_I'm part of _you, _dork. That mean's I'm in love too. Only _I_ recognize it, unlike _some _OTHER people around here!_

"Momma, why is that lady talking to herself? And why is she dressed so purty?"

"Pretty, Peter. That woman is a homeless person, most likely, or under the influence of alcohol in the very least. It's best not to talk to people who talk to themselves."

I looked up at the mother-and-son pair walking by. The little boy clutched his lollipop defensively. His mother was tugging on his hand, but he stayed and stared. I smiled.

"I'm waiting for someone, Peter, is it? And no, I haven't been drinking. Drinking is a very bad thing." I nodded hugely for emphasis.

"Is talking to yourself fun?"

"You do it all the time when you think. And you never get lonely, even though that's not always a good thing," I aimed the last part at Conscience.

"Ooh! Momma, can I try?" He turned back to me. "You're my new friend. What's your name?"

"Alice…Whitlock." _Good girl. _Shut up. _Fiiiiiine._

"Yay! I made a new friend!" The mother glared at me as they kept walking.

_Back to our former conversation…_

"What if I don't want to go back?"

_Listen, you just gave those people your name. You were considerate enough to steal Jasper's last name. What does that tell us?_

"This is really fine quality fabric." I petted my sleeve.

_Stop changing the subject._

"No, really, it is." I unbuttoned the shirt and held it in my hands. "It smells good too."

_That has nothing to do with the quality of the fabric, and everything to do with our original subject._

"No, I'm not talking about the surface smells. You think too much like a human, Conscience. Even though…" I buried my face in the shirt and inhaled deeply.

_Smells good, don't it?_

"Smells like home."

_Home? What home?_

"I don't know. It just smells comforting, and warm, but still sexy."

_Did you just say what I thought you said?_

"So what if I did?"

_Are we going to recognize my rightness, then?_

"Hell no."

_Fine. I get to do my I-told-you-so dance when it's proven._

"Whatever you say."

I heard more footsteps approaching, and looked up hopefully. As soon as I saw Henry, I hid my face as fast as possible.

I felt his cold hand clutch my arm and haul me to my feet. Then the hand seized my hair and pulled my head up. I glared defiantly.

The two police officers were following him, as was usual, and the one who had started talking to me last time grinned. "Hello, precious."

"Garrett, hands off. So, milady, where is Jasper?"

I decided to stay safe in the truth. "He's off talking to Adrianna."

Henry raised an eyebrow. "Without a shirt on?"

I shrugged as a lump formed in my throat. "Whatever works," I said, attempting to sound bored.

"Ah." He nodded. "She's all yours, boys."

The two policemen took off their hats and stepped forward. "Wait!" I gasped. "D-don't you want help or something? What if it doesn't work?"

"I have all the confidence in the world in Jasper's charming abilities." They pinned my arms. Henry looked on calmly.

"Oh, I can tell you, they aren't that great. He's an awful kisser, and not all that charming at all." _You liar. _Hey, I didn't want to get raped, excuse my stalling techniques. _Go on ahead, please? _"He's too book-smart, and has his head in the clouds."

"Oh really? Boys, let her go." They moved away.

I rubbed my arms self-consciously. "Next time, I would be delighted if you didn't drool on me, _boys. _It's very unbecoming and unsanitary."

"So what's this? You think he will fail?"

"Unquestionably. He can't act, either."

"It would appear that you do not like him. I know this is not true. What game are you playing at?" He talked so _weird. _I missed contractions already.

"Okay, look at it this way." Crap, I suck at improvisation. "What if when they come back, Jasper hasn't changed their mind, or worse yet, they've killed Jasper, " Please, God, no. Have mercy on my eternal soul? "But before that, they found everything out. That would mean they're coming back to get rid of me and stay in these suburbs. Everything would have been a waste of time."

"So what do you propose we do?"

"How many men do you have?"

"About five on hand."

"Have them hide, and let me sit and wait. They'll be able to pop out at the slightest sign of trouble."

"Okay… I'll put your proposal into action. When did they say that they would be back?"

"Um… eventually?"

"Not good enough. I shall attempt to find them. In the meantime, Garret, Damon, Rebekah, Kirk, Hugh, listen to her. Hide where she directs you, and do not move from that spot unless I call."

Henry then proceeded to disappear into the trees, leaving me with the five vampires. Three of which had just appeared out of nowhere.

I cleared my throat. "Okay, um, Garret, is it? You can go up that tree that hangs over the path just there." He stood staring at me. Apparently I wasn't making myself clear enough. I tried for a general-type command. "You heard me, now _get up there._" He sprang into action.

"Okay, now, Kirk." Hello, other-creep-that-wants-to-rape-me. I think I'll put you far away. "You'll be the first line. Go up ahead, there, in _that _tree. _Got it?" _He sprang away.

"Rebekah, you go behind those bushes there, Damon, you go with her, and Hugh…" I looked around. "Find a spot that you can get out of easily." Because Hugh was a flipping giant, I swear to god.

I then sat back down at my tree, out in the open. I had shrugged Jasper's shirt back on and rolled up the sleeves. Thought you might like to know.

"He's not going to die, is he?"

_Naw, he's a tough little poet._

"No, remember that ban on poetry?"

_Oh, right, _sorry. _He's a tough little sucky-kisser-head-in-the-clouds nerd. Better?_

"Shut up."

_But you'll be lonely._

"Do you need anything? Like some medication, maybe?" Rebekah had come out of her hiding spot and was standing, all six feet of her, in front of me.

"No, diva, thanks for asking. Aren't you supposed to be hiding?"

"Yeah, but I don't like taking orders from a crackpot vegetarian."

"Listen, barbie, I don't care if you think I'm a crackpot, just _get back to your station and _LEAVE ME ALONE!" Beauty queens annoyed me. Especially when they were tall. Rebekah was lucky she was brunette. If she had been blonde, I might have ripped her head off.

So I sat in sweet silence, left to contemplate whether or not Jasper was a good enough actor to not die. I decided yes, but I was going to flay Adrianna anyway. Too bad, too, because she used to be nice.

_­­­—They have returned. Only Jasper isn't with them, I'm in the middle, between Adrianna and her crew, and Henry and his. They're shouting over me. Great. Looks like they've come to an agreement­… there they go. Now I'm alone. I sit down.—_

"Well, that looks entertaining."

_I wonder where Jasper was._

"Well, not dead, because I wasn't crying."

_Good point. Hm, you're making good points now. I think I might have to go away until you get stupid again._

"I was never stupid; I'm in denial, remember?"

_So you don't deny that Jasper loves you!_

"Holy crap; where did that come from?!"

_Look, the bushes are coming to talk to us again._

"Okay, listen, we only listen to Henry because­–"

"Because of everything?" Speak of the devil and he shall appear. Swathed in black and looking none too happy, I might add.

"He is doing fine in convincing her, Alice." When did he pick up my name, again? "They're heading back this very minute…"


	19. Never, ever give a reason for a grudge

**Aeons of sorriness, guys. Yes, I am aware that an aeon isn't what I think it is, and yeah, that means its not a measurement. Isn't a measure of time? Yeah, I think so. ANYway, I had this nassty case of writer's block thats still not fixed, which is why this chapter is so short.  
**

** I updated my profile, in case a few of you might want to look in a spasm of unusual boredom. Oh, and I can't spell Apparatus, apparently or gnaw. They come out apparratus, apparrently, and knaw. I had to fight my fingers to spell them in that previous sentence, and my spell check does the rest.**

**Yeah, I'll stop pouring my boredom over you guys now. Enjoy this short chapter. I hope I get this block fixed soon!**

**Grey-chan**

Chapter 19

"_They're heading back this very minute…" _Well, that was good… and bad. Henry looked at me pensively for a minute, and then turned to his crew. Rebekah was not looking very happy at all. Actually, she was glaring at me. Which was not good in the slightest.

"Okay, get back to your posts. Just because I have come back, and they are coming, does _not_ mean that you can let down your guard, Rebekah. I thought you knew better than _that."_

–_I was kneeling on the ground, next to Adrianna. There was something wrong, because her neck was twisted… Jasper was standing next to me, and whirled around to get a face-full of werewolf…–_ Images swirled around in my head, indecision manifesting itself. _–Now it was Henry on the ground, with Adrianna next to him, smiling and slowly turning his dead body over to burn it… no, it was a pyre, but it was my face in the flames… Adrianna was tearing out my throat… only Jasper suddenly turned on her, his eyes bent on murder… Jasper was alone in a graveyard, his face hidden in shadow, next to a grave. A grave that had my name on it… –_ I realized I was screaming. I stuffed my fist in my mouth, biting down hard. The images weren't stopping, only solidifying_. –It finally stopped spinning to reveal Matthew, slowly transforming, his face elongating into that of a wolf. Finally he stopped, turned backwards, and I caught sight of a formidable pack, about fifteen strong. They howled, and Matthew whirled, leaping into the trees–_ It stopped, and I opened my eyes a crack to find that my fist really was in my mouth, and Henry was shaking me.

"Alice, Alice. _Alice, can you hear me._"

I nodded dumbly, slowly dislodging my fist from my mouth. I wiped off all of the venom-spit, and took a deep breath. What had just happened again? Apparently, the werewolves were coming? Oh…. Shit…

"Henry."

"What was wrong with you? Are you really that afraid of them coming back? Why did you start screaming?"

"Werewolves are coming."

"What–how do you…?"

"I can see the future, or parts of it. They haven't left yet. What are we going to do?!!" I lost my composure. Henry didn't.

"Everyone. Get out here, then fan out around this clearing. Rebekah, you go get Adrianna and–"

"No." I would not let Barbie see Jasper first. No, no NO! "I'll go…" I rushed out of the clearing, in the direction Henry had come from.

About a mile down the road, I saw something sparkling in the distance. I ran up to Adrianna, who was fearlessly in the lead with Jasper a half-step behind her.

I skidded to a hurried halt, and with a long glance at Jasper (who was shiny and beautiful as ever) I turned my attention to the problem at hand. I opened my mouth to warn them…

And Adrianna pushed right past me. "Don't have the time or patience to deal with you, girlie. I need to talk to the skaz, Henry."

Before I knew it, the whole group had flowed past me. Well, except for one.

Do I even need to tell you which one? I didn't think so.

So there we stood, five feet apart, staring at each other like we'd just met. Like in that clearing, right after I extinguished my fire, way back when.

I shrugged off Jasper's shirt and held it in my hand, feeling numb. My mind felt like a puddle, so excuse the romantics. Not my fault!

"Hey," I started, shattering the delicate silence.

"Hello." Apparently I wasn't the only one who was at a loss for words.

"Long time no see." I am the Queen of Awkwardness.

"Too long."

"I've been thinking, Not the most productive of past-times, but, you know." I stepped forward. "Here's your shirt back." I kept repeating it inside my head. I am the Queen of Awkwardness.

He stepped forward an took it. "Well, this is awkward."

"You have no idea." I am the Queen.

He shrugged his shirt back on and began buttoning it up. "I got Adrianna to agree. I decided to play on her pride instead of her other deadly sins." He added nonchalantly, "I got her to look up to me instead."

"I won't take that literally, for the sake of this conversation."

"You do that."

Get your confetti ready, Conscience, I thought sarcastically. I'm only giving you five seconds to do your happy dance.

_That's enough,_

A very small part of me, remember that little evil part in the back of my mind? Yeah, it was asking me why the hell I was going through with this. My confirmation was standing about a foot in front of me. Conscience had been right. Jeez, I hate that.

"Sooo…." I am the Queen of Awkwardness.

"What?" I could feel Conscience holding confetti, I swear.

"I love you." I braced myself, flicking a stray piece of hair into my eyes.

He blinked, which was no exactly what I expected. I may just have been expecting a little more like an, oh I don't know, "I'm so glad our feelings are mutual" and get picked up and kissed or something similar. An "I love you too" and a hug at the very least. Queen of Awkwardness, I say it again.

I was startled out of my disappointment when he took my hand, turning it this way and that. Thing was, he wasn't looking at it. He was looking at me.

"'I do not know what it is about you that closes and opens; only something in me understands, the voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses. Nobody, not even the rain, has such small hands.'"

I couldn't help but roll my eyes. Way to turn my moment of revelation into a poetry session… _But you love iiiiiiiiiiiiit…. _You had your confetti. _Shutting up. But you are forgetting something.._

"Uh….ohmygawdjasper…. Jasper! I saw…werewolves… fourteen…they're coming back." It came out a bit rushed, but I got the message out. Jasper's eyes widened, and focused on something over my head.

"Oh…shit… GET DOWN!" He pushed down hard on my shoulders, and I felt something fly over my head.

I managed to peer around Jasper's shoulder to see what had nearly decapitated me. I was greeted by four gigantic paws and the very end of a tail. And an insanely deep, thunderous growl.

"I'm, uh, sorry I was a bit late." I muttered in the general direction of Jasper's face, and pushed myself up. Better to face our potential-decapitators standing up, riiiight?

The wolf had its head lowered, so it stared directly into my eyes. I recognized it for Matthew, since I had seen his ugly, steely-gray muzzle before.

I'm sure I smelled just as disgusting to him, but really, if I could have, I might have shot myself then and there. The assault on my poor nose was unfair.

After a second, my nose went on overdrive and the werewolf-odor was gone, leaving a strong smell of decaying flesh in its place. I looked around, but it seemed to be coming from a place behind Matthew… no. It was a bit closer then that.

I put a hand over my nose and smiled at the giant hulk in front of me. "Sorry, is it us you want to kill? I thought you'd be going after your fiancee." I shrugged ostentatiously and backed up a few steps, glancing down to find that Jasper had disappeared. I felt my eyes widen as I turned them back to Smelly.

"Sorry, I'm getting distracted by that smell of decay." I quipped. He snarled, and looked pointedly toward his tail, which he moved into view.

For the first foot, it was a fine array of ugly, dirty, gray fur. After that, however, it was a twisted, limp strip of decaying flesh. It was oozing slightly, as if he had attempted to gnaw it off.

I stared at it for a few seconds in horrified silence; but after those few seconds something clicked in my mind.

_Jasper's head snapped up, and he immediately grabbed his prey and shoved it roughly into the pack's muzzles. They stumbled back, their limp companion following their retreat. His tail was still in the way when I slammed the boulder into the wall and dragged it backwards to successfully plug us in the cave._

Never, I repeat, NEVER, give a werewolf a reason to have a grudge. N-e-v-e-r.


	20. A very short sprint of writing

**This chapter is dedicated to Kyori-chan, who convinced me to post this before she leaves. XD **

**Hey all, sorry this one is so short and so late. I'm still in writer's block, though I think I know how I'm going to end, or at least continue, with this one, though it will have excessive cheese. I dont know if I want to use it, uhm, any ideas anyone? I'll write more at the end of this.**

Chapter 20

Now, how does one go about killing a werewolf, I asked myself. This was one of those times where it would be handy to know, you know? Maybe it was like killing a vampire? With the whole ripping-beast-up-into-pieces mentality, anyway. Maybe you froze the tiny pieces in liquid nitrogen, or something, instead of burning them. Now, the thing is, where was I supposed to get this liquid nitrogen?

During my little self-monologue, Matthew had shifted and taken a step toward me. I stumbled backwards, and he growled again, though I could see an undecidedly human grin deforming his snout.

A sudden, loud gunshot distracted us both. I whipped around, and there was Jasper. Who was also turned around. Hmm, no answer there.

_I don't care, I don't care… just get out of the way or do something interesting…like save my neck!!_

A giant paw came down on my head, knocking me to the forest floor. The werewolf leapt over me, turning around to land with his paws tight against both of my arms. Hah. So much for moving.

He pressed his ugly face up to mine, whining slightly. Jasper must be trying to work his magic. Matthew snapped at my face, and I just barely dodged it. Good thing it was aimed slightly to the left.

Next he aimed for my neck, and one of his paws came up to rest on my chest. I saw my chance and used it. I used my free arm to yank on the back to his neck, dragging him over to the right. With my other arm free, I seized his muzzle, twisting his face to the left. All in all, I managed to flip him off me (with a little help from my feet), and he ended up in a pile off to my right.

It had sounded like he had broken his neck, but I knew that wouldn't stop him. Something about werewolves is that they feel pain very slowly, and, well, are practically invincible.

I bolted up and over to Jasper, snatching his arm as I ran past. "Wehavetogoseewhattheothersaredoing!" I explained.

He dug his heels into the ground, making me stop. "Wait, Alice, think about this. We don't owe them anything. All they've been is selfish—"

"We don't have time! Worse comes to worst, we can lose Matthew through the crowd." Then I proceeded to drag him again.

Eventually he started keeping up, and I got up the courage to smile at him. He looked tired, which meant—hungry. I could've increased the romanticity (yes, not a word) of the situation by snatching a cute little squirrel from a passing tree and handing it to him for a snack, but to tell the truth I deemed it unnecessary.

I got a returning smile, one that said 'I cannot believe this is actually happening I think I'll just ignore it,' right before we ran into a werewolf. Well, more accurately, a werewolf's tail, hind end, whatever you wish to call it. ah, the curse of being a love-struck vampire. You move too fast.

It yelped and turned around, which didn't help at all. Its head collided with mine, which made it drop to the ground, momentarily stunned. We shared a glance with the poor vampire that had been fighting (and losing) to the beast, and then ran off again, weaving through the giant fight.

Towards the end of the crowd, we saw Adrianna. We stopped, meaning to share a few words (in my case swear words), but were frozen by an earsplitting roar.

I turned around, feeling unusually cold. I was feeling twice as much fear as I should have been, and a small part of my mind realized that Jasper must be projecting on accident. Understandable.

The turmoil that we had just passed looked as if someone had frozen time. Every beast had stopped in its tracks and was turned towards the other end of the clearing. Then I saw it.

It wasn't Matthew, it was too huge.

**-Continued from top-  
**

** So yeah, I finished the last Harry Potter book (and shed a round total of two tears, a regular miracle!) and am itching to write a fanfiction on that. Also, I was thinking about writing a sort of sequel to this one, right when Alice and Jasper meet the Cullens. (cackle) Again, any feedback? I wanted this fic finished before Eclipse came out, and my date of death is drawing ever nearer. So... au revoir, for now.**

**Who else but the only person who could post  
**


	21. Fin

**See the note at the bottom.**

Chapter 21

The large wolf in question was about the size of a buffalo.

Now, for those of you who have never seen a bison in real life, allow me to give you a few quick facts. Even though they appear slow, they have been seen to run as fast as thirty-five miles per hour—enough to easily outrun a human. Bison can reach up to two meters tall at the shoulder, three meters long, and can weigh up to 2500 pounds. Hey I've done my research. I had to write a paper once in a college class with Kitty… don't ask.

Okay, I am aware that half of that information was not necessary, because contrary to popular belief, I think that werewolf could have run faster than thirty-five miles per hour. Maybe around, oh, ninety, one hundred mph tops.

Anyway, this gigantic wolf was a muddy grey-brown, and had enough scars to make it look like it was balding in some places.

So Jasper and I stepped closer to each other (as a matter of fact, it _was_ possible.) and he laced his hand through mine. Again, not a good thing, even though under a good number of circumstances I would have been thrilled, being the small-minded person that I am.

Maybe if Adrianna hadn't started to run, everything would have worked out. Unfortunately, the pampered young woman in her got to the better part of her, and she, in a state of complete terror, bolted.

Everyone turned to look at her, and the pathway that had formed through the crowd disappeared. The great Alpha (what I had come to call that Ginormous One) crouched to the ground and leapt after her, stopping her in her tracks before she had a chance to even look around. It pinned her down under one paw the size of a truck tire, and looked back at the captivated crowd.

Without warning, every single one of the werewolves leapt to the outside of the clearing and formed a ring. This ring included the beast I had temporarily knocked unconscious and Matthew. They were the two closest to us.

The crowd of vampires roiled, and some leapt at the wall of werewolves, only to be beaten back or… killed.

Jasper and I were frozen, standing alone about twenty feet from the front lines, so to speak. It seemed that we were the only ones that noticed the high-pitched, keening screams and triumphant roars coming from where Adrianna and the Alpha were. They made me feel colder than I thought was possible, as if I was standing on the North Pole naked after being buried under 5,000 feet of ice for about… a millennium. At least, that's what it felt like.

I had never thought about death before, to be honest, and in that moment it was acutely clear. Even when I had been running from that small pack after I had just met Jasper, or had been pinned in that alleyway, I had never really thought of death as… possible. I was a _vampire,_ for Christ's Sake! Mythical creatures that most people only think about when they watch an old, silent, black-and-white Dracula film.

But now I was faced with not only seeing death right before my eyes, but noticing my own.

But, you see, the problem was, I was thinking philosophically in the middle of a battle, which was taking place in the middle of a park in the suburbs of Denver.

Several more gunshots, or so it sounded like, went off in the distance, and everyone, every_thing_ for that matter, paused, listened, and then resumed fighting, only slightly quieter.

At the gunshots, Jasper moved, nearly yanking my arm out of its socket in the process. He flew across the clearing, and then over to the right in a seemingly random pattern. Then I realized that he was looking for a way out.

The Alpha then howled, nearly the same sound that had frozen and parted the fighting earlier. I saw, as I looked back, that it had ashes running down its muzzle and back.

_She must have changed and burned Adrianna, and then changed back…_ Okay, Conscience was helpful--sometimes. Now I realized that IT was a she.

Meanwhile, as everyone else was looking at our dear Alpha female, Jasper had sucker-punched a smallish werewolf and knocked it out. Now, let me repeat that in case it didn't register. _He sucker punched a werewolf and knocked it out._ I still count myself lucky I found Jasper to this very day. Not only for that, but it helps. I mean, you try finding a sweet, smart, emotionally sensitive (ha), nice looking guy who can also punch out something the size of a horse. I tell you, they're hard to find.

Back to the scene. He proceeded to drag me out, shake me, and then bolt for the mountains. I quickly followed, with a backward glance at the clearing. Not much of anyone had noticed the werewolf's absence of consciousness, except for the ones standing next to it, who filled in the gap as the fighting resumed.

"Rain, rain, please let it rain…" Jasper repeated the mantra from up on our rocky perch. We had run all the way up a mountain, thanks to our adrenaline rush from, you know, nearly being killed. So we were sitting on a… boulder, to be precise.

I took a deep breath and got a weather report from my inner weather station. It looked like one of those videos of several days on fast-forward, with the sun and moon reeling through the sky. I watched for a good minute before concluding that it would be a nice, sunny June week.

I turned to Jasper. "No rain in the next week or two. Tough luck for us, eh?"

He looked back at me torpidly. "Splendid." His eyes were slightly glazed, and he stared out at the annoyingly colorful sunset.

The experience of the fight had the exact opposite effect on me. I was as alert and focused as was possible, and it felt like every nerve was tense, just waiting for something to move or make a sound.

Jasper's languor wasn't helping my jumpiness. Every time he sighed or moved his head, I flinched.

_Shock, he's in shock. Snap him out of it!_

…How?

_You deserve a dope slap._

Now is **not** the time to be romantic!

_Every time you start to believe in yourself, I go away. Congratulations. With that cryptic comment, I depart._

Cryptic indeed. Stupid voices in my head. Correction—just one voice. Jasper sighed again and I started.

Seized by a sudden burst of anger, I turned to him, grabbed his chin, yanking his face towards me, and slapped him.

He blinked, reaching up to delicately touch his cheek. His eyes were clear again, but he was obviously confused.

"We're being complete idiots," I muttered, turning my head away. I couldn't believe what I had just did. "We have to do something." Somehow, I felt responsible for Adrianna's death. If I hadn't brought Jasper to Denver to see Kitty, she would've never even turned into a vampire. If she hadn't turned into a vampire, nothing would've happened.

"It's not your fault— it's hers." He crooned, and touched my hair softly. "I understand that we can't just sit here—but we can't do anything about that fightexcept get ourselves killed."

He was right. He was always right, I sighed inwardly. I turned back around and buried my head in his chest. He wrapped his arm around me, and I bean to feel slightly better. But wait--

--_An old, eighteenth-century house stands majestically in the middle of a hardwood forest. A garage sets off to one side, and three or four classic cars are parked outside. _

_The front door opens, and out come five people. A tall blonde girl, laughing and arm-in-arm with a bear of a young man, leads the way to one of the cars. A younger man of around eighteen with bronze-colored hair follows the two closely. Bringing up the rear is another couple, slightly older looking, whispering to each other. The woman flips her caramel-colored hair and smiles, calling out to the other three. _

_The older man suddenly stops, frowning. He stares directly at me. —_

Jasper must have felt me tense up, because he gently titled my chin up. "You're scared. What did you see?"

I explained in full detail, and he frowned. "People in visions usually can't see you there, because you aren't, correct?" I nodded.

He grinned. "Well, either you're going mad or I'm dreaming back in my tent in 18- something-or-other." He poked me in the side. "Don't worry about it."

I laughed and hit him lightly. (We all remember what happens when I hit him hard) He pulled me close and wrapped his arms around me. "Okay, I'll let you worry about it in a few minutes. Okay, an hour." Without warning, he jumped off the boulder, landing with a puff of dirt. "Get down here," He demanded.

"Fine, fine," I muttered, launching myself off of the rock. As soon as my feet hit the ground, Jasper seized my hand and dragged me up the mountain, not even giving me a chance to stretch. I like my stretches, so this had better be important, I thought harshly.

Within ten minutes, we were at the top of the mountain. I was treated to a spectacular view, with a whole range of mountains stretching unbroken before me (Denver was to our backs). The sun was just behind a mountain, throwing us into a twilit shadow.

"Pretty." I said sharply, still slightly annoyed. Yes, it was an amazing sight, but did we really have to run up there so fast? Couldn't I have stretched?

I turned to Jasper to complain more, but he wasn't there. I whipped around, thinking he was behind me, but nothing was there.

I sighed and stopped, turning back to look at…

A chest.

Not exactly your fairytale-sunset.

I sighed again and titled my head up tiredly. Could we finish this up, please? I was getting tired of Jasper's games.

Jasper smiled dazzlingly, and I crackled a grin. Then, swift as ever, he knelt in front of me.

If I had a heart, it would've begun pounding. I would've broken into a sweat, turned beet red, and commented on the weather. But I couldn't. I just stared.

His hooded tawny eyes smiling, he held up his hand, palm upwards and open. Supervision aside, it took me several seconds to focus on the small silver band that sat there, glittering slyly.

My eyes widened and I froze. "Mary Alice Brandon, will you ma—" I threw myself on him before he could finish, kissing him passionately.

I think I shocked him with my vehemence. After a while, though, he relaxed into a more comfortable position for all of the parties involved, and kissed back.

It was a new experience, to say the least.

After a while, we broke apart for the sake of something new, and he slipped the ring on my finger with a grin. "I will choose to take that as a 'Oh, yes, Jasper my shining knight, of course I will marry you. I love you with all of my heart and soul.'"

"You're not too far off," I commented with a grin. I twirled the band with my pinky and thumb. (It would become a nervous habit.) "That's my way of saying yes, much like how you quote poetry to say anything and everything."

"Oh, do you _really_ need to hear it?"

I looked gravely at him. "Yes."

"I love you."

**Fin. The End.  
**

**Its over. I can't believe it. Today I opened up the document, going "Oh, I think I'll write something today" and only when I scrolled to the bottom did I remember: Oh, shit, its FINISHED.**

**Don't worry, the sequel will be up and running once I finish _Eclipse, _I PROMISE. I might even give you a little preview in a "Chapter 22"**

**Actually, I think I will do that. BUT**,** I want you guys to do something.**

**_ANYONE AND EVERYONE THAT READS THIS, PLEASEPLEASEPLEASE REVIEW! I dont care if all you say is "good" "bad" or "I hate you" I just want to know that you read it. PLEASE._**

**I'll be back in less than a week.**

**Grey-chan**


	22. PSA

**Hey, everyone. Just though I'd let you all know that I posted the "first"chapter of the sequel, which is titled "Mostro Dagli Occhi Verdi" which means "green-eyed monster" in Italian. I changed some stuff around, and plan to have the next chapter up by Saturday. Enjoi, and thanks for sticking with me... I'll take down the Public Service Announcement in a day or so.**

**-Grey-chan**


End file.
